One Big Dysfunctional Family
by Unthinkable123
Summary: Change bounces from family to family. Life is bitter, but it can be sweet...spanking of minors.
1. Chapter 1

It has been a few weeks. The DiNozzo boys are more than adjusted at Nobles. Johnny is friends with everybody while all the kids think Kyle is as cool as can be. Kyle has tried out for football and is on second string. During the spring he'll try out for soccer. Since you can't do football until the eighth grade at Nobles, Johnny's doing soccer during the fall and baseball during the spring. He's the goal scorer

The boys recently found out, last week. That Tim and Abby are going to adopt…well they have adopted Lucas. He's ten and Tim and Abby really want him and Johnny to become friends. Johnny isn't so sure. This Lucas seems like a dork. He likes books, school, and other junk. Well Johnny hasn't actually figured out what Lucas likes besides fictional books and school. Kyle doesn't care. He likes having a big family. He's never had one of those before.

Johnny rolled over onto his stomach. This stinks. He got sent up to his room, for making fun of Kyle's insane crush on Thalia. Ziva said he had to think about what he says before he says it. And that he could come down when it was time to go to Abby and Tim's house to meet Lucas who's ten. It gets worse. He overheard Tony and Ziva saying that they might wanna have more kids. That means he and Kyle will hafta bunk together if they do. After all they only have four bedrooms; master bedroom, Kyle's, Johnny's, and the junk room. The junk room is wicked messy, that's where they keep all of their crap.

Opening up the Playboy magazine and the curious eleven year old begins reading it. He found it under Kyle's bed while searching for a few bucks. His eyes become wide with somewhat interest when he sees the ladies wearing bikinis.

There's a knock on his door. Johnny throws the magazine under his bed. Thank God his room is a untidy or else his parent's would see it. Ziva slips into his room. "What you said to Kyle wasn't at all necessary" she replied tersely.

"I know and I'm sorry" Johnny answered quickly. He doesn't really mean it. Why should he? Kyle's too sensitive. Ziva takes note of this.

"I didn't like the way you spoke about women downstairs" Johnny looks down his face red with embarrassment. He said something about girls being shitty and useless. "I don't want you ever speaking that way about or to a woman. You ever speak that way again and I'll take your T.V. out of your room for a month. You understand?" Johnny's eyes become wide.

"You're a bitch" Johnny declared angrily.

"What did…you…say?" Ziva asked raising an eyebrow at him. The instinct to swat his little bottom floats into her mind, but the agent pushes the feeling away.

Johnny looks down weakly. "Sorry, it just came out…like vomit" he places his hands over his bottom.

Fully expecting to be put over Ziva's knee, Johnny winces. "I don't want to spank you, okay? I just want you to understand that all people; man and women are equal. Is that understood?" Ziva informed him sounding serious. She waits until he nods to finish. "If you ever call me that again, I don't care if it slips. I'll take you over my knee" Ziva said seeing Johnny's eyes become wider, if that's possible.

The eleven year old nods his head yet again; pretending to understand why Ziva is so mad. "Come on, we can't be late. You will apologize to Kyle" the eleven year old races downstairs; glad that his 'time-out' is finally over.

Kyle did his hair perfectly. He wants to make it look good for Thalia. Not that he really cares what she thinks. She's a dumb girl after all, but a pretty girl too. "Sorry bout' what I said" Johnny mumbled quietly.

"S'okay" Kyle shrugged; he honestly doesn't care. Johnny's barely eleven years old and a little teasing never hurt nobody. Ziva apparently thought his teasing referred to all of the women in the world. When it only referred to one; Thalia, she's stealing Kyle away from Johnny.

"Let's go, we're going to be late" Ziva called to her boys. Sometimes she wonders about Johnny and what kind of man he'll be. Kyle has been acting secretive and odd, all week.

"We're always late, my lovely" Tony quipped smirking at Ziva who rolls her eyes, but smiles anyway.

Ally glared at the clothes on her bed. She wanted to wear pink. Instead she's gotta wear orange tee shirt and jean skirt with pretty black leggings. Eww! Plus she hasta miss dance. "Mommy, I wanna go to dance" she whined.

Her mommy puts the last box down in Ally's room. They've just moved into Gibbs house. "I'm sorry hon, you can't. We're going to Tim and Abby's to meet Lucas, won't that be fun?" Julie's eyes become wide when she checks her watch. They're late!

"I don't wanna" Ally glares at her clothes. She looks like she's going trick-or-treating and the orange is all fading.

"You'll have fun, Ally-cat" Thalia assured her, not looking up from a text message. Ally glares at her cousin. What does she know?

"But, I'll be the only girl there" Ally said angrily. She really wanted to go to dance class; it's so much fun!

"I'll be there" Thalia said giggling.

"You don't count"

"What does that mean, sweetie?" Julie asked calmly. Her little princess is in distress and she wants to fix it.

"You don't play with me no more" Ally mumbled. "Alls you do is play wit Kyle" that is true, unfortunately. Kyle DiNozzo is at the moment Thalia's partner in crime.

"Thalia will play with you. Right Thalia?" Thalia glares at her aunt. This is so not fair; she always has to do everything for Ally.

"No, I won't" Thalia answered. She always hasta play with Ally or do something for Ally. It's getting pretty annoying.

"But you neva play wit me" Ally lied. Thalia was playing Barbies and house with her yesterday. And the day before, Thalia played with all of her friends too.

"That's all I ever do. I'll play with you after I hang out with Kyle, okay?" Thalia reasoned trying to stay calm.

"No, you play wit Kyle later" Ally said firmly, her lower lip jutting out. Thalia shakes her head. Ally always thinks she's in charge.

"Stop acting like a baby, Ally. Your six years old!" Thalia said clenching her fists. She knows its wrong to hit six year olds, but still…Ally always manages to push the right buttons.

"I'm not a baby" Ally said with fake tears rolling down her cheeks. She looks at her mommy.

"You totally are. You cry when you don't get your way and you still wet the bed" that was supposed to be a secret. Julie glares at her niece, how could she be so insensitive?

"I do not!" Ally cried out.

"Thalia, she won't have anyone to play with" Julie cut in.

"Ally can play with Johnny or Lucas or by herself. She isn't a baby!" Thalia snapped. At that exact moment Gibbs comes into the room.

"Was that your elder you were speaking to in that tone?" Gibbs asked giving Thalia an even look. The teen runs a hand through her dark brown hair.

"I'm sorry" she doesn't sound sorry at all.

"Explain" he ordered.

"Explain, what?" Thalia asked steely. Her tone angers the agent a little, but he manages to calm the storm.

"Your side. I want to hear your side and then I'll hear Ally's side" Gibbs decided nodding his head at this plan.

This is all very new to Thalia. She guesses this is the equal side of parenting. "I'm sick of her following me around all the time. I always hafta babysit or play with Ally. Can't I just do my own thing?" she's such a teen.

Gibbs turns to a grumpy looking Ally. "You never play with me! It's always Kyle or Johnny or Mattie or Ardis or Sammi" Ally has lots of friends. "You never have time for me" Ally whined, stamping her feet. Gibbs gives her a look to cut it out.

"That's total bullshit" Thalia blurted. Sometimes she says what she thinks and she thinks this is total bullshit and a waste of time.

"Hey! Language" Gibbs slapped Thalia's backside; the thirteen year old looked at Julie stunned out of her mind.

"You…that's illegal!" Thalia replied. Her hands are now covering her bottom. A smirk forms on both Julie and Gibbs's faces. It was only a matter of time, when Thalia started to act up.

"I assure you tapping a naughty child's bottom isn't illegal. It's discipline" Gibbs explained simply. Thalia rolls her eyes.

"Aunt Julie" she called looking over at her aunt. Julie is too busy helping Ally put a pony-tail in her hair.

"Sorry hon, but you deserved that tap" Julie said urging Ally to put on the jean skirt. Julie gives Ally a very pleading look.

"You guys all suck" Thalia said starting to storm out of the room. Gibbs grabs her upper arm and leads her out.

"Hey! Let go of me" Thalia argued looking over her shoulder at her aunt. How could she be so quiet when Gibbs is man-handling her? The true colors are coming out now. Gibbs wonders what he'd do with Kelly if she was acting in this manner.

Gibbs realizes he's invading her space and does. "Listen good, from now on there won't be any of that language in this house. You hear?" he asked. Thalia is a lot like Abby; stubborn and at times sarcastic.

"What about outside?" Thalia smirked; a testy teen verse Leroy Jethro Gibbs who will win?

"You're testing the wrong timer" Gibbs whispered coolly. Gibbs walks away from Thalia, letting her stew over what he meant. That ended the argument real quick. Ally has officially decided to help the mommies cook today. The car ride is too quiet in Julie's mind. She looks in the rearview mirror to see Thalia pulling her hoodie over her head and plug her self into her I-pod. Fingers clicking over the tiny buttons of her phone as well.

Lucas or Luke as he prefers is perfect in Abby's opinion. He's smart and adorable! Tim is really excited that Luke is smart. Plus he's handsome; short sandy brown hair and those eyes. They're a bluish-green color with tints of yellow; Abby can't decide.

"How do you like your room?" Abby asked pretending to sound casual. Tim looks up from the kitchen table and grins.

"It's awesome!" Luke raved with a bright smile. His smile could light up an entire city.

"Goodie, you know Johnny is your age" Luke nodded silently. He's heard of this infamous Johnny and his older brother Kyle. The DiNozzo boys as his Dad says are always causing all sorts of trouble. There were boys like that at the home. The caused so much trouble it was impossible to like them cos they were so cocky and mean to little kids.

"Tim…I mean Dad says Johnny's always causin trouble" Luke noted. Abby puts the watermelon onto the kitchen table.

"Timmy just doesn't want Johnny to rub off on you. He thinks he's a bad influence, but Johnny is a good kid. He just likes to have fun, a lot more fun than other kids. He really is a good boy" Abby said hoping her son will be more understanding about the Johnny issue. Tim hasn't really appreciated Johnny since he got suspended for cherry bombing the lounge and mouthing off when they were babysitting.

"Yeah, but Ab…mom do you think he'll like me?" Luke asked nervously. At the home he wasn't really liked all that much by the other kids. It was because he was smart and stuff.

Abby grinned. She doesn't want to get his hopes up, but maybe Johnny will like Luke right off the bat. You never know. "Of course" Abby said not meeting his ocean like eyes.

There's a crashing sound and a quiet damn from the basement. Abby cringes, while Luke just smiles. His parents are the coolest. "Timmy, are you sure you don't need any help?"

"Abby I'm the man of this house. It's my job to fix things. I think I can fix the electrical system. How hard could it be?" Tim said, reading the manual like it's the bible. He scratches his head and sighs.

"Why don't you go downstairs and see if he needs any help?" Luke nods and starts for the door. Abby hears another crash of some sort. "Just stand about…five feet away from him. Just to be safe" she added with a thoughtful smile. Luke's smile becomes wider as he hops down each step.


	2. Chapter 2

Luke swallowed hard. Introductions are his worst quality. Abby looked over and smiled brightly at the nervous looking Luke. She begins to wonder if Kyle and Johnny were nervous when they met the family. On second thought, they met the family on very different circumstances. It feels very different with everything. When they met the boys. It was on different levels of everything.

The door opened to none other than the Gibbs family. Its obvious even if the DiNozzo's got in the car first, then Gibbs would still beat them to there. Thalia didn't even look up as she walked into the house. Not bumping into a single thing; Luke stares at all three of them. Wait, no four Ally stomps into the house looking like she already hates being there. Next comes in the DiNozzo's, Thalia eyes brighten when she sees Kyle who grins back. Johnny walks into the house looking as cool as ice. He's a mini Kyle in Abby's opinion; minus the green eyes and brown-blonde curls, he's Kyle through and through.

"Hello, I'm Ziva and this is my husband Tony. These are our sons Kyle and Johnny" Ziva said trying to fix Johnny's messy hair. He ducks away from her, not wanting to look like a dork in front of an actual geek.

"I can talk for myself, thanks" Kyle muttered under his breath. Ziva shakes her head, but doesn't reprimand him. Instead she gives him a hard look that could make hardened criminals cry. Kyle rolls his eyes, and wipes his eyes in a mock way.

"Hey watch your tone, Kyle" Tony lightly smacks the back of Kyle's head as a warning. The teen looks at his father and smirks.

"I'm Ally. That's my mommy, Thalia, and Gibbs. He spanked Thalia" Ally announced very loudly. Kyle chuckles and Johnny grins at this. Even a few of the adults are smiling.

"He did not…oh I'm Thalia btw…that means by the way" Thalia said pinching her cousin's arm. Ally glares at her, why is she bein so mean? It was just a joke.

"I know what btw means" Luke boasted. Thalia rolls her eyes at him, but grins anyway.

"What are you some girl?" Only girls know that talk" Johnny said under his breath. Ziva nudges him to be nice. Johnny rolls his eyes and shrugs; saying he was only saying.

"No, I…there...my girlfriend…yeah my girlfriend at the home…she always talked like that. I sorta got…used to it" Luke lied. He hasn't had a girlfriend or kissed a girl yet. Tons of girls used to run up to boys and sneak kisses on them, but girls are gross to him.

Johnny suddenly looks impressed. "You ever kiss a girl" Luke puffs out his chest and stands a little taller, but he puts on his best cocky face. Johnny grins, that's cooler than he thought.

Julie steps forward, while Gibbs tilts his head to the side trying to read one of Thalia's messages. He knows it's wrong, but still. Thalia is just a kid. She shouldn't text this much. "I'm Julie and this" Julie grabs Gibbs's arm to pull him in front of Luke. "Sneaky man is my boyfriend Gibbs"

"I'm Luke" Luke said to the large families…well his family. He isn't quite sure how this is all going to work out. They all seem so dysfunctional and nice…but scary too.

"What do you like to do?" Julie asked kindly. She begins to wonder if he's as awesome as Abby raves to.

"I like school" Luke admitted not sounding ashamed at all.

"You like school. See Johnny isn't that good" Tony encouraged. Johnny rolls his eyes at this, he's comparing them.

"I also like reading" Luke added softly. This time Kyle slaps his back, basically saying that reading is really good thing. Thalia shakes her head wondering why Kyle is so immature.

"You do maybe you could show Johnny how to read?" he joked causing Johnny to roll his eyes once more.

"Do you like video games?" Johnny asked skeptically. Looking very annoyed with all these stupid jokes about him.

"Sure, I love them. That'd be dumb if I didn't" Luke answered. He loves video-games about monsters, actions, and other things like this.

"Awesome…hey where's my nerdy uncle?" Johnny asked looking around for his Uncle.

"Yeah…where's McDaddy?" Tony wondered out loud.

"Timmy is somewhere. He's been running around all day. Trying to fix the place up, but there isn't anything to fix up in the first place"

"Mr. Fix It" Gibbs laughed. He looks outside and sees McGee scrambling around in the yard.

"He's probably worse than Tim Allen in Home Improvement" Tony joked, following his Boss to the backyard.

Once Gibbs is outside, Ally walks up to her mommy. "Mommy I wanna go to dance" Ally said with her arms folded across her tiny chest.

"Sweetie, I said no. We're staying here and that's final" Julie said smoothing out her daughter's hair.

"But I want to" Abby suddenly wishes Ally was her daughter for ten minutes; just so she can spank her.

"I know and understand that, but you can't. We're here to meet Luke and have a good time. Please try and understand that"

"I hate Luke" Ally said glaring very defiantly at her mother. Abby gasps. She knows that Ally is six, but sometimes Ally can be a little brat.

"Ally, please, just be good and go play" Julie begged. Johnny and Luke manage to sneak off in the middle of this as does Kyle and Thalia.

"I hate you" Ally studies as her mother's eyes flicker with sadness. Ally sees this and grins at the fact that she's making her mommy upset.

"Ally, I know you don't mean that" Julie replied looking sadder than ever. Ziva wonders if she's lucky to have all sons.

"I do" Ally replied making her mom look even more hurt. "I hate you mommy"

Julie looks over at the other mom's for some help. The poor woman looks close to tears. How can a small child lead her mother to tears? Ziva looks at Abby unsurely, how do you parent someone else's kid without doing something the real parent doesn't approve of? Ziva chews her lip.

Sighing Abby kneels down to Ally's level. "Ally, I know you're mad about missing dance, but you can go next time. If you don't drop this attitude, I'll smack your bottom and send you into the corner. You hear" Abby said sounding serious, Ally glares angrily at Abby. Why is her favorite auntie bein so mean to her? Everyone is always mean to her. This isn't fair.

"I hear" but unlike with her mom, Ally actually listens to Abby.

"Good, now apologize to your mommy" Abby said turning the little girl around to face her mommy.

"Sorry mommy" Julie grins at Abby. She swears these women are amazing with children, especially Ally.

"Ally, I have a special job today. Would you like the honor of being my assistant for baking the cake?" finally satisfied Abby grins down at the little devil.

"A cake? A big one right?" Ally asked raising her eyebrow at her auntie. Ziva and Julie share smiles.

Of course Hon" Abby said causing the little girl to clap her hands.

"Okay! I'm bakin a cake. I'm bakin a cake...with Auntie Abby" Abby grins softly. She called her Auntie. How cute.

"Hey so…did yah get my text?" Kyle asked opening the front door for Thalia. He doesn't think of her as a cousin. She's more like a…a girl he goes to school with. Nothing like family at all;

"Yeah, I did…I don't think Gibbs would let me date you" Thalia has already noticed how Gibbs has taken on that paternal role in the Caruso family. You girls need all the help they can get. Well that's why Mattie's says.

"Who says he has a choice?" Kyle asked, hoping that isn't an excuse just so she can't date him. That'd be so stupid and wrong on a number of levels.

Thalia smiled at him. "He doesn't, but I do" she grinned at him. Her dark brown curls look wavier and prettier than usual. An extra bounce in them just to look cool.

"So you wanna go out with me or what?" Kyle sounds impatient. Thalia frowns at his tone.

"What you're gonna make me choose right now?" Kyle looked down sheepishly. All the girls at Nobles would date him if they could. "Lemme think about it" Thalia said starting to walk away.

"What's there to think about?" he asked draping his arm around her shoulders. Thalia rolled her dark blue eyes.

"You're such a dork" Thalia joked happily and giddily. Kyle shrugs his shoulders like he couldn't care less.

After hearing Ally talk about how she doesn't like him. Luke decides on giving his new cousin the grand tour of his room. It's a dark navy blue and by the look on Johnny's face. It's way bigger than his.

"Don't take whatever Ally says personally" Johnny said as Luke opens the door to his bedroom.

"I don't care what she says. She's five or something" Luke answered causing Johnny to grin. This Luke is way different than what Tim has said about him. He must act different for Tim or something.

Johnny eyes widened when he stepped into Luke's room. "Cool? You have a T.V. in your room, me too" Johnny said. He makes his voice all high-pitched and girly. "Ziva said she'd take it out if I disrespected women" Luke laughs. This is what it must be like to have friends.

"Where are Tim and Abby sending you to school?" Johnny asked while Luke chose the video game for the pair to play.

"I dunno…Nobles with nuns and stuff" Luke said thumbing through Super Smash Brothers and Grand Theft Auto.

"Yeah! I go to Nobles" Luke looks over suddenly brightened by this. "Too bad we won't have the same teacher" Johnny lied. No offence to Luke or anything, but he seems like he really cares about school.

Luke puts in Grand Theft Auto and doesn't say another word. The way Johnny said that last sentence made him realize something. They can be friends with the family around, but at school. That is plainly noted; he and Johnny can just be random family members. That's just fine with Lucas McGee.

Downstairs, Ally is watching a movie about Fairies. The chocolate cake is in the oven; cooking away. While cleaning up the ladies are talking to one another about the kids themselves.

"So what do you think about Luke?" Abby asked nervously. Her friends are the most important people in her life. She wants all of them to really love Luke.

"I think he's adorable" Julie replied feeling very happy.

"Yes, he does seem like a good boy" Ziva agreed thoughtfully.

"I love him. I honestly do...do you all think that Johnny will like him? I want them to be friends" Abby asked looking more or less at Ziva. The former Mossad agent turns pink with shock.

Ziva blinked and rubbed her eyes. "Of course" she lied. How can she say Johnny might not want to be Luke's friend? Johnny is a very complex little kid. But, he does have his heart in the right place.


	3. Chapter 3

**Today is my birthday! 15 years old. Yahoooo.**

**Chapter 3**

Luke has been excelling in school. This has brought great joy to Tim and Abby. They never figured their son could be so smart and cute. Luke peers closely at the letter from his principle. A pang of worry comes to mind. He gave a boy in his class, Axel the answers on the homework maybe, Sister Ugla caught him; fifth grade is easy. Luke wonders if Johnny feels the same way about sixth grade. But, how can she see through that glass eye of hers. The cool wind brushes against his cheeks as he waits outside for Johnny. He and Johnny only hang out after school. It was Uncle Tony's idea of bonding for the two of them. Tim was hesitant at first, but he realized it'd be safer this way. Abby loves the idea more than she loves Caff-Pows.

Four boys all form a circle around Luke. They look like they're all in Johnny's grade or even older. "Lookit here, it's shrimpy" a boy with red hair boasted. Luke tries to push his way out of the circle, but the circle tightens.

"Where do you think you're going?" the boy asked.

"Umm, could you…leave me alone?" Luke begged. He feels like a little kid, at the home the other kids would band together and protect one another. Even if it was a geek getting beat up, they'd help anyway. Now it feels different, like they wouldn't help him. All they'd do is watch with disdain.

"No…we can't" the boy shoved Luke to the ground. Luke looks just about ready to cry. Tears start to fall down his cheeks.

"Alan, don't. He's a fourth grader" one of the pleaded while Alan opens Luke's backpack and took all of his homework.

"I'm in the fifth grade" Luke whimpered. The boy trying to help Luke gives him a look to shut up.

"He's a little baby is what he is" Alan taunted throwing the bits and pieces of the homework into a puddle of mud.

Luke looks up to see Johnny strutting out of the school. His wavy brownish-blonde hair is flowing in the wind "hey Johnny, come here. You gotta see this" Alan called hopefully and kindly. All the other boys grin when they see Johnny. He'll put Alan in his place, well they hope he will. After all he is Kyle DiNozzo's brother. Why wouldn't he?

"Yeah…" Johnny said inquisitively. He walks over and a look of dread flashes through his eyes; it's Luke.

"Lookit, we got a shrimp boy crying"

"Johnny" Luke said brightly. He wipes the tears from his cheeks and almost grins. Johnny will help him, for sure. After all they're family.

"You know Johnny" Alan said suspiciously. He can't believe this dork could even be related to the DiNozzo's.

"He's my cousin" Luke said quietly and weakly. Johnny looks down at Luke; wondering if he should play hero or play coward.

"Liar, you two aren't related. Right Johnny?" Alan asked looking more to Johnny who gulps and looks around. Besides Henry, the other boys have their heads down.

"Uhh" Johnny looks from Luke to Alan. This decision is harder than it seems. He can either help the dork or be in the cool crowd. "Nn-o I don't even know him" Johnny lied while Luke wipes his eyes.

"That's your good luck" Alan said as one of his friends lift Luke up and hold onto his arms. Alan punches Luke a few times in the stomach and lands one directly in his right eye. Trembling slightly the ten year old can't help, but let the tears fall down his cheeks.

"Alan stop it" the boy whose been trying to help Luke said, letting go of Luke's arm.

Luke slowly falls to the ground. "Don't be a wuss Henry. Wait a minute…I'm being rude. Hey Johnny why don't you take a few swings. Henry, Eric, hold him up" Johnny looks down sheepishly.

Eric quickly pulls Luke up while Henry hesitantly does. "I'm good" Johnny mumbled under his breath. Alan rolls his lime green eyes at his friend.

Luke starts to get up, thinking that they're doing beating him up. Alan has other plans he pushes him back to the ground and throws his backpack into the mud. Johnny looks away not really sure of what he should do. That's when he sees Thalia walking with Kyle and Jeff. He catches Kyle's eyes and his face turns beat red.

That's when Kyle runs over to the group and pushes Alan to the ground. Thankfully Kyle and Alan's older brother Jeff are best friends. Only Jeff doesn't agree with Alan's bully personality. "Alan, don't you touch him or else" Kyle threatened clenching his fists at Alan who winces at him.

"What'd I do?" Alan whimpered. Kyle glowers at him angrily.

"You oughta leave him alone" Kyle ordered wanting to beat the shit outa this little puke bucket.

"Why?" one of Alan's friends, Eric asked nervously.

"Cos that's my cuz and if I ever see you messin' with him again. I'll beat your face or I'll get your brothers too. Get it?" Kyle threatened. Alan trembles his older brother could and would beat him up or worse. He'd tell there mama, who'd take the spoon to his behind. The exact same thoughts are floating into Eric and Henry's minds.

"Yeah…we'll leave him alone. I…we promise" Eric promised. "Just don't tell Ezra okay?" Kyle doesn't say anything.

"Or Paul" Henry added quietly.

"Or Brett" Alan mumbled sadly. Johnny's eyes widen, he can't believe his brother is being such a dork protector.

"You better or you'll have me to deal with. Get his bag" Kyle ordered gruffly, looking much superior to the younger boys. Johnny's beginning to realize that Kyle is getting pretty tall.

Alan reluctantly got up and retrieved Luke's bag. He gingerly hands it over to Luke who is standing beside Thalia. Johnny glares over at his brother. Alan and his bullying friends run away. Johnny stays back and starts to feel guilty.

"How could you? Those are my friends" Johnny spat.

"You call those dicks your friends. How stupid are you?" Kyle demanded glaring at his stupid little brother.

"No stupider than you. Least I'm not a geek protector" Kyle grabs Johnny by the shoulders and slams him into the school building wall. The eleven year old winces upon impact.

"Why didn't you do anything?" Kyle said clenching his fist; looking ready to beat the shit out of him.

"I just got here" Johnny lied. Luke watches with astonishment. Kyle's really being harsh and mean to Johnny.

"Bullshit. Why didn't you do anything? He's younger than you" Kyle practically shouted at him.

"Shut up. You aren't Tony…or Ziva" Johnny tries to become loose, but his older brother squeezes his grip so tightly. Tears roll down Johnny's cheeks.

"Kyle, let go of him" Thalia shouted, Kyle loosens his grip. "You're hurting him."

"You have to help him. What's wrong with you? They coulda really hurt him" Kyle shouted at him. His tone hurting Johnny's eardrums.

"I don't hafta do anything. He didn't get beat up to bad" Johnny said quietly. He looks over at Luke who actually does look beat up, pretty badly. Damn, Johnny should've helped him.

"You call a black eye good? I oughta give you a black eye…on both eyes" Kyle threatened looking and feeling pissed off to the extreme.

"You don't mean that" Thalia said pleadingly.

"I do, if Johnny won't stay true to family. It doesn't matter where you come from. Family is family" Luke almost smiles at that. Then he remembers the throbbing feeling in his right eye and stops.

"No dork is my family" Johnny said feeling Kyle push him against the wall one last time and shake his head.

"I'm not a dork" Luke squeaked. Thalia grinned at him and nodded like she can't help, but agree with his statement.

"He's family now, John. Get used to it" Kyle said offering Luke a friendly smile. "Let's go, Ducky will wanna put some ice on that" he leads Luke out of the school yard. Ally who has been watching with admiration towards Kyle; follows. Thalia stays behind and studies the red eyed Johnny.

He isn't crying, but he's close enough. Thalia puts a comforting arm around him. That sad puppy dog look on his face makes Thalia want to give him a hug. Only Thalia begins to wonder if he's going to grow up and be a bully or jerk.

"Listen, Kyle didn't mean what he said before. You know that" Thalia said kindly. She knows that Johnny's a good guy, but he's confused is all.

"He did too, just cos Luke is a baby" Johnny scowled at her. He didn't mean to sound all mean, but Luke's being a baby. Black eyes are sorta cool.

"Johnny, Kyle's right family is family. No matter what. Do you consider me and Ally family?" Thalia asked sharply. She sounds pissed off.

"Yeah" the eleven year old replied simply.

"Then, why don't you for Luke?" Thalia demanded softly.

"He embarrasses me…and all of you. He seems nice, but he does" Johnny admitted shrugging his shoulders. Thalia crinkles her nose in disgust.

"You embarrass yourself by thinking that way" Thalia said jogging to catch up with the other kids.

Johnny kicked a pile of leaves and started home. Instead of going the same way as the others; he goes the long way home. He might just make it home before Kyle, since usually he and Kyle drop everyone else home first. Then they go to their own house; last, that always irked Johnny. It seems as though they always having to be last with everything, it's never fun being with Kyle anymore. Kyle used to be his cool and loyal brother. Now he's a jerk and they don't get along anymore. Johnny wishes Cody didn't stay after for Extra math help with Sister Freda.

After dropping off Thalia and Ally at Gibbs house, Kyle can't help but feel sorry for his brother and Luke. He walks with Luke the ten minutes to his house.

"What a shiner, you look like half of a raccoon" Luke chuckled. "You should ice that face of yours, Luke"

"I gotta go. Candy's coming over soon" Luke lied. He didn't have to go, the babysitter Candy would be here in fifteen minutes. And she is pretty chill about stuff, plus she's sixteen.

"Hey Luke, my brother…he's a good guy. He's just confused is all, don't hate him for that. He's a good guy" Luke nods biting back a list of words. Everyone is always saying what a good guy Johnny is. His mom, other kids, and now Kyle; Johnny's just a jerk.

"I'm gonna ice my face" Kyle sighs and watches as Luke trudges up the steps and walks inside. He doesn't even turn around and wave goodbye. That, Kyle can totally understand he must feel so humiliated. Kyle rubs his neck and starts to walk home.

Johnny managed to beat Kyle home, just like he planned. He actually found a short-cut through the woods. Kyle would've loved it. Opening up a can of Coke, Johnny eases him self onto the couch and flicks on the T.V. He then does something that he wouldn't have done with Kyle in the house; he slurps his drink. Slurping louder and louder, Johnny chugs on his beverage and heads into the kitchen for another Coke.

Luke opens the door for the blonde haired teen, Candy. She grins down at him and frowns when she sees his eye. "What happened to your eye, Lucas?" she asked heading straight for the kitchen.

"I…uh we played dodge ball and I got him in the eye" Luke sits down at the table.

"Now that's a story, you hafta tell me" Candy said drumming her hands on her skin tight purple jeans.

"No, it's dumb. Anyway the guy said he was sorry" Luke lied. Nobody even said they were sorry or anything.

"Oh, well do you have any homework?" Candy asked already knowing the answer.

"I finished it at school" Luke lied. His homework got ripped up and destroyed. Anyway his parents will be home in two hours.

"Want me to check it or are you good?" Candy asked, her sugary sweet tone doesn't leave her voice.

"It's good" no it isn't it isn't good at all. It's floating in a pool of mud.

"How was school?" Candy asked opening up the freezer to get some peas or corn.

"Fine. What's with all these stupid questions?" Luke snapped at her. She sounds like a damn Interrogator.

"Don't be a grouch Luke" Candy ordered handing him the corn. Luke doesn't put it to his eye just yet. He glares at his babysitter.

"Whatever" he remarked rolling his eyes.

"Lucas, I don't wanna send you to your room, but give your attitude too yesterday. It's better off there than here. Kay?" Luke reluctantly nodded. He didn't mean to make Candy upset.

"My homework's fine" Luke replied in a softer voice. This obviously pleases Candy who grins at him.

"Are you sure? Your mom said she wants me to check it. Why don't you just take it out and we can go over it? It's probably all right anyway"

"Candy, I already handed it in" Luke lied. He hates lying to her, but she hasta get off of this topic.

"Why would you do that?" Candy asked incredulously. Sister Ugla has always said she'll grade homework like it's a test.

"Sister Ugla gave us time in class to do it" He lied again.

"Hmm, that's funny. I had Ugla she never let me do my homework in class" Candy taps her chin; thoughtfully.

"People change" Luke shrugged his shoulders.

"They certainly do, Raccoon Boy" Candy said mysteriously. Luke looks down sheepishly, but presses the corn to his eye and decides to keep quiet.

Ally skips around the kitchen with a gleam in her eyes. She's been that way for fifteen minutes; all excited and jubilant. "I can't wait to tell Gibbs and mommy" Ally said giggling with excitement.

"To tell them what?" Thalia asked sounding and looking confused.

"That Lucas got his eye kicked" Ally laughed. Thalia pinches her arm basically telling her that someone getting beat up, isn't funny.

"You can't do that, Ally. It none of our business"

"Is too. I was there, you was there, Kyle was there, Lucas was there, and so was Johnny…Johnny's gonna get a spanking" Ally sang over and over again.

"No because we aren't going to tell" Thalia said, Ally stops singing and glares at her older cousin.

"Why not?" she whined. That's no fun. Johnny should get in trouble cos now Lucas looks like half of a raccoon.

"Cos, it isn't right to get someone in trouble" Thalia explained like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"But Johnny was bad" Ally said remembering exactly what Kyle said and did to him at the school yard.

"Ally, we can't" Thalia shakes her head. She knows it'd be the right thing to tell on Johnny, but Lucas is fine. It isn't like he got murdered or maimed.

"Will Kyle tell on Johnny?" Thalia swallowed hard. She honestly doesn't have a true answer for that question. Kyle did seem mad, but he wouldn't tattle on Johnny.


	4. Chapter 4

Luke has been watching the clock for forty three minutes. Its 6:47 p.m. and Tim and Abby should be just about home by now. Luke jumps started and scared when he hears the door click open. Candy meets his parent at the door. They start talking and Luke can tell that they know about his eye.

He looks up to see his mom studying him. That's when he hears her gasp. He lets out a breath of annoyance. Why did Candy tattle on him? He knows that mom and dad would've obviously seen his eye, but still. She doesn't need to be such a tattle tale all the time. How he got the black eye is going to be really hard to tell and lie about. He loves his parents, but he doesn't wanna get Johnny into trouble. Maybe Johnny will consider liking him; once he finds out that he didn't rat on him.

"Oh my God!" Abby shrieked looking surprised and as well shocked to see her little baby's eye bruised. Tim hands Candy a twenty dollar bill, she waves goodbye to the family. "What happened to your eye?" Abby asked her eyes wide with astonishment.

"Nothin, mom" Luke groaned. "It was a dodge ball in gym." He scratches the top of his short blonde hair.

"Oh my baby, are you okay? Does it hurt? Mommy will make it all better" Abby has gotten into a bad habit of babying Luke. The ten year old rolls his eyes, but lets her hug him anyway.

"It don't hurt much anymore" Luke lied unsuccessfully. It still is throbbing and aching, but he wants to look tough.

"Candy said you already handed in your homework" Tim asked shaking his head, if he fails then that could go on his permanent record. Then he may not get into a very good college. "Why would you do that, son?"

"Cos…cos I-I finished it and I didn't wanna lose it. I got a letter" Luke said really wanting to change this subject.

"What happened? What did you do?" Abby presses the frozen peas to his right eyes. Luke groans he's pretty sure that his eye is already less swollen as it is.

"Mom, my eye is fine. I already put corn on it; ask Candy if you don't believe me" Luke moaned, trying to get her to shove off.

"What do you need to tell us?" Abby pushes the peas harder against his eye. He winces, but remains still so it won't hurt when she has the peas on his eye.

"I don't know. I didn't do nuffin" Luke said pretending to sound as sweet as cherry pie. He really does hope that Sister Ugla didn't catch him cheating. Tim would be really upset if he cheated. Then he'd start feeling ashamed of him.

"You better hope that's true. Give it here" Luke shuffles around in his pocket and pulls out the somewhat dirty letter.

Tim reads it while studying his son. A slow smile breaks onto his face. "This is great, this is amazing. This is incredible" he raved on and on. Luke's face returns to its natural color.

"Abs you have to read this" Tim hands the letter over to his wife. Abby, who still has the peas pressed against Luke's swollen eye; scans down the letter. Her eyes become bright with excitement and utter relief. Their perfect little angel didn't get into any trouble on his first day. That's an improvement, considering how school went with the DiNozzo boys.

"What is it?" Luke asked trying to have a look at the letter himself. Tim doesn't even let him have a good look. He just keeps holding the letter.

"You're moving on up to sixth grade with Sister Kathy. That's Johnny's teacher, we told the school you two are related. Isn't that wonderful?" Abby clapped her hands and grinned wildly.

"Uhh yeah it is" Luke lied. He doesn't think this is great. This is terrible, now people will make fun of him even more.

"My son is a genius" Luke guesses the black eye is all forgotten. He tries to move the peas away from his eye, but Abby presses it harder.

"Maybe he'll move up another grade. This is perfect, wait till everyone at work hears about this" Abby said smiling brightly at her boys. Luke plastered a fake smile onto his face. This isn't perfect. Now Johnny will hate him even worse.

* * *

><p>Kyle watches as his parents pull into the driveway. He looks over at Johnny. The eleven year old looks consumed with the television set. They aren't allowed to watch T.V. on school days. Kyle goes into the backyard to kick the soccer ball around. Just as he closes the screen door; the front door opens.<p>

"Hey, what are you doing?" Tony demanded his army green eyes are narrowed.

Johnny fumbles to shut turn the T.V. off. The remote slips from his hand and slams into the ground. "I…you said you'd be home at eight" Johnny looks so confused. Why didn't Kyle tell him they'd be home early?

"We solved the case early. Why are you watching T.V. when you know you aren't allowed to on school days?" Tony asked his arms are over his chest.

"It's educational" the eleven year old lied. He's not even a teenager and yet he acts like he's fifteen years old.

"Is it?" Ziva intervened. Her dark brown eyes are clouded with anger. She mentally counts to ten.

"Yeah" he lied again. Lying seems to be something that Johnny has been frequently doing. In addition to that he also has a dirty mouth.

"Don't you dare lie to me" Ziva threatened, noticing the cans of Coke perched on the table.

"Sorry" Johnny doesn't sound at all sorry.

"Did you have all of these?" she motions to the beverages on the table. Johnny gulps, he isn't allowed to have a lot of Soda all at once.

"My tummy hurts" Johnny complained, putting on the little boy act. Ziva rolls her eyes clearly seeing through this.

"If you don't answer my question, your bottom with hurt too" Ziva promised. Johnny blinks and sighs, this can't be fair.

"I couldn't help it. Soda's are my weakness, it's like my kryptonite" Johnny said sadly, he actually sounds remorseful.

"You aren't Superman, Johnny. You broke a rule and this weekend, no T.V. or video-games"

"But, that means I gotta wait a whole week. Before I can watch T.V. no fair"

"It also isn't fair that you try to take advantage of your mom and my strenuous work hours. Where's your brother?"

"I dunno, outside" Johnny said quietly.

Tony nods as he opens the screen door. "Kyle, come inside. We need to talk" the thirteen year old looks over worriedly.

"I didn't do nothin" Kyle called back.

"I never said you did, just come inside" the teenager starts up the porch steps and heads inside wondering if Tony and Ziva found out about what happened at school. He just hopes Luke kept his mouth shut. Johnny gets spanked an awful lot these days; its cos of his sour mouth and dirty attitude.

"Boys, your mom and I talked about this at work. We're thinking about getting you two a babysitter" their eyes become wide with shock.

"You can't. I'm thirteen years old" Kyle blurted angrily, shaking his head. "I'm gonna be fourteen soon. The guys at school would really let me have it about this."

"How are we supposed to trust you two with the rules? Whenever we aren't home" Tony asked glaring down at his boy.

"I don't know, but you can't get a babysitter. Cos we're not babies" Kyle answered, squinting at his father. He looks so cute; Ziva wonders what he looked like as a little boy.

"How about a young adult sitter, Lucas has one" Ziva said trying to change up the words, just to make it sound like it'd be a lot older.

"Luke is ten. I'm three years older than him" Kyle said throwing his arms into the air, looking crazy as hell.

"Kyle, I know this doesn't feel fair, but what do you want us to do?" Ziva asked incredulously. She shakes her head.

"Not to get a babysitter" Johnny said pleadingly.

"Guys, try to see this our way. When we come home, we don't want the house ruined and you two all jacked up on junk food. That isn't very healthy?" Ziva reprimanded her tone obviously upset by all of this sneaking around.

"We won't, we'll be good" Johnny whined, he sounds like a seven year old.

"One more chance guys, if you mess this up. We're getting a babysitter" Tony warned giving them each a hard, warning look.

"Sometimes could you come home early?" Johnny asked weakly. Kyle understands that, he wishes his parents could come home sooner as well.

"It depends on the case. With your mom and my job, we all have to make certain sacrifices. One of which is the difficult hours of work"

"We promise we'll try not to eat a lot of junk food" Kyle promised and he actually sounds like he means it.

"Those are my boys" Tony clapped their backs. Ziva rolled her eyes, and begins to start dinner, Johnny who likes to help Ziva cook; follows her into the kitchen to help her out.

* * *

><p>Thalia chews on her lip. Her little cousin can't keep a secret if it saved her life. Even with Birthday presents. Ally always tells what's in the present she got for someone. She can't help, but blab about everything; it's her one weakness. Well besides being a pest and annoying brat.<p>

"You hafta keep your mouth shut" Thalia warned her handing Ally a large pillow case of candy. That's what she bribed her to keep her mouth shut.

"But why?" Ally asked again. It sounds like she wants more than candy.

"Cause, Gibbs will tell Tim and Abby who'll tell Tony and Ziva. Just telling one person is really bad" Thalia explained for what feel likes the millionth time.

"Why?" Ally asked more like whined. This doesn't seem very fair. Although maybe using this against Johnny could be helpful.

"You don't want Johnny to get spanked cos of you, right?" Thalia gives Ally the Gibbs stare in result Ally rolls her eyes.

Ally shrugged. She doesn't like Johnny, but he can be nice sometimes. "I guess not."

"That's right" Thalia squeezed her shoulder. Julie looks over at each of them curiously, wondering what's going on between the two of them.

"Are you two up to anything?" Julie asked giving them each a knowing look. Ally gulps while Thalia stands up a little taller.

"No mommy" "No Auntie" they chorused.

"You better not be or else I'll spank your behinds" Julie said trying to sound serious, but both of her girls can tell that's an empty threat. Thalia rolled her eyes. She knows full well that her Aunt wouldn't ground them, much less spank them.

Behind his newspaper, Gibbs smiles at this. He knows Julie isn't completely ready to spank the girls yet. That is why the job is left with him, for now. Over the weeks Julie has become a lot more hands on and parental.

"How was school?" Julie asked raising an eyebrow. She wonders if her little demons got into any trouble.

"Luke got hurt" Ally confessed receiving a harsh look from her cousin. Gibbs takes note of this and puts down the newspaper.

"Oh, he did. How?" Julie asked sounding very concerned. Both adults wonder how a ten year old could get hurt on his first day of school.

"He fellded down da stairs. I sawed it" Ally lied, Thalia looks over and nods confirming this lie. Gibbs studies each of their faces trying to determine the truth; whether or not it is truth.

"Gibbs could you help me with a project" Thalia asked looking doubtful about this. It was Julie's idea to even ask him.

"Course I can, what's it all about?" Gibbs answered a small grin or smirk appearing onto his face.

"Its, what I wanna be when I grow up…and I wanna be an NCIS Agent" Thalia replied quietly; she looks nervous about his reaction. Gibbs grins proudly.

"What about me?" Ally whined over dramatically. Julie grins Ally is the type of kid who needs constant attention or else she'll cause trouble.

"Ally, sweetie you can cook dinner" Julie offered, hoping that Ally won't throw a tantrum. She's tried time-outs before and it never worked with her.

"Can I use the stove and oven?" Ally asked with a mischievous grin and glint in her beautiful green eyes.

Julie taps her chin; methodically. "No, but you can decide on what and how we cook it" this seems to please Ally enough. She struts into the kitchen grinning from ear to ear. She already has plans on what's going to be for dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day at school, Johnny suddenly awoke from his daydreams to a knock at the door. Sister Kathy opens the door to the Guidance Counselor, Sister Genevieve and none other than Luke. What is he doing here? Johnny wonders. He looks over at Eric who smirks at this while Cody glares at Eric. He absolutely hates Eric, Johnny doesn't. He thinks Eric is cool.

"This is Lucas McGee, he's joining our class" Sister Kathy pointed out. Sister Genevieve walks out of the classroom. Sister Kathy has had several new students before. This shouldn't be any different.

"I prefer Luke" Luke said coldly. He hasn't really wanted to move up grade wise. It isn't like he made any friends, but it would've been nice to try and make some his own age. Of course his parents did, but he didn't. Only he hasn't really told them yet.

"You're seat is beside" she scratches her wild gray hair; and tries to remember where to exactly put this little mutant child. "Hmm…who do you sit next to Henry?" Sister Kathy asked curiously.

"Lilly Weiner, ma'am" Henry replied politely. He has always been polite with teachers. He and Johnny are considered the golden boys of the sixth grade.

"Oh, right, right" Sister Kathy said looking and sounding very annoyed. "Who do you sit next to Cody?" shouldn't she know that? Luke wondered, but doesn't dare say anything.

"Nobody" Cody said looking uncomfortable.

"Didn't Deana sit next to you?" Sister Kathy asked peering at Cody closely. She doesn't look like she believes him.

"She moved" Deana moved to Texas a week and a half ago. Johnny didn't really know her at all

"Oh right, Luke sit there" Cody nods politely at him. Ziva has always said that Cody doesn't cause any mischief, Johnny does.

"Yes ma'am" Luke mumbled quickly walking towards his seat beside Cody. Johnny looks over at Luke and can't help, but wonder if he tattled. Luke pretends not to notice him staring.

Sister Kathy seems to ramble on and on, about useless crap. She never seems to make any sense. Especially with any subject, all she does is rant about how she cannot wait to be retired. Luke begins to wonder when the actual learning will begin. He watches as Johnny and Cody pass each other notes. Nobody is even listening to Sister Kathy. She seems like a nice lady, but really stupid. Kids are passing notes and listening to their I-pods during class that just doesn't seem right.

"Are you allowed to do that?" Luke squeaked studying his cousin. Johnny has one headphone in his right ear.

"Does it matter? I already know this stuff" Johnny admitted. He's actually really very intelligent; if he tried his best, but that doesn't matter.

"I doubt it" Luke said sounding like a jerk.

"Do you? Geekazoid" Johnny said rolling his eyes. He can tell that his words hurt Luke, but that doesn't seem to matter.

"Don't call me names!" Luke cried out, looking somewhat annoyed.

"Or what, are you gonna cry?"

"Sister Kathy, Johnny has his I-pod" Luke blurted causing Johnny to jump.

She looks over and makes a tsk-tsk sound. "Johnny, bring it up here. You're parents will have to collect it at the end of the day. Thank you Lucas" several kids, Cody included gives Luke dirty looks.

"Tattle-tale" Johnny muttered slapping the I-pod into Sister Kathy's opened palm.

"Future McDonald's employee" Luke whispered back. He's sick and tired of trying to get Johnny to like him. This guy is a dick.

"You were a geek. Now you're a tattler" Johnny taunted.

"Don't call me names" Luke threatened angrily and boldly.

"Or else what?" Johnny asked glaring at his cousin. He cannot believe this dork is their cousin.

Luke looks down; helplessly. He already told on him. Now he doesn't have anything on him; this sucks. "That's what I thought. Now shut up or else I'll knock your baby teeth out"

"Why are you so mean?" Johnny doesn't know how to answer that. So instead he just looks forward. His green eyes flicker; he honestly didn't mean to be so mean to Luke. He is younger. The eleven year old instantly starts thinking up ways to apologize, it's a shame he stinks at apologizes. Johnny groaned, he really shouldn't be so mean to Luke. It isn't his fault, he's so smart.

* * *

><p>"Ally, do you have anything for show and tell?" Sister Paula asked her. Ally smiles; she has Gibbs Marine Tags. At bedtime, he promised that he'd try and dig them out just for her cos she's special.<p>

"Yeah!" Sister Paula grins down at the little girl. This is the first time she has ever brought in anything from home. Maybe this is a good thing.

"Can I go first?" Ally asked pleadingly. She really wants to show off to the entire class who her Gibbs is. She has decided that Gibbs isn't her daddy, instead he's her Gibbs.

"I don't know" Sister Paula taps her chin.

"Please" Ally said she reaches into her book bag; looking just about ready to take out the tags. He told her a story about how he got these in Desert Storm.

"Okay" Sister Paula encouraged, taking a seat beside the other six and seven year olds on the blue carpet. Ally produces the tags from her backpack and smiles wildly.

"My Gibbs lemme borrow his Marine tags. He got theme in Desert Storm and other places, but he didn't tell me everyplace he got em"

"That sounds very interesting, doesn't this class?" Sister Paula asked the entire class who all nod in full agreement. Ally knows full well that they don't know a thing about Marines or Desert Storm, but that doesn't matter.

"Do any of you have any questions?" Sister Paula asked the kids look around. They don't really know what to ask or how to ask it.

"Is he your daddy?" a girl named Opal with brown pigtails asked scrunching up her face.

"No! He's my Gibbs" Ally glared at her; looking angry with her self. Nobody is asking about the tags.

"Then what is he?" a little boy who has a Hippie name asked. He has really long blonde hair that reaches his waist. He looks like a girl in Ally's opinion. Ally thinks his name is Sonny or Cloudy.

"He's sorta my daddy" Ally lied; no one seems to believe this.

"Is he and your mommy married?" Opal asked suspiciously.

"No" Ally squeaked.

"Then he isn't your daddy. He's nothing" Opal declared. Ally fights back tears, why is she being so mean?

"He's MY GIBBS" Ally said clenching her fists. Her temper matches her fiery tempered red hair.

"You're stupid"

"I am not" Ally denied. She got 100% on the Spelling Test while everyone else did really bad. Why is Opal such a jerk to everybody?

"You are too; you have a diaper brain" Ally raises her fists and takes a swing at Opal. She connects with her cheek. They start rolling on the ground; both children look angry and full of spite for some reason.

"Girls that's enough, Opal sit in time-out. Ally, go in the hallway, please" Ally starts walking towards her backpack. Opal reluctantly stomps into time-out.

"I like your Gibbs tags. My daddy was a Marine too" Jason Parks offered up kindly. He has black hair and blue eyes. He seems really nice.

"Thanks" Ally replied a slow smile forms onto her adorable face.

"Do you wanna be my friend?" Jason asked his blue eyes twinkle at her.

"Okay"

"Ally, wait in the hall, please" Sister Paula ordered her tone much more stern. This is her first year of teaching and she doesn't want to seem mean to the children. Ally struts outside; trying to blink back the tears.

Ally goes into the hallway. Tears roll down her cheeks. Sister Paula comes out a few minutes later. "Ally, do you want to go on a walk with me" Sister Paula asked. This isn't her place to talk with a little girl about her family problems.

"Where?"

"To the Guidance Counselor Sister Genevieve or Sister Gen" Sister Paula asked looking very calm with everything. "She's really very nice."

"I don't wanna talk to her. Can I stay out here for a lil bit?" Ally asked.

"Okay, you can come inside whenever you feel ready" Sister Paula stops. She has heard from the other teachers about Ally Caruso. There are stories about her that make any new teacher feel scared out of their mind. "Ally, I trust you won't run off while you're out here all by yourself. Okay?" Sister Paula said really hoping she complies with this. She has already decided to send an email home to her mother.

"I won't…I promise" Ally promised and she actually means it too. She sits down and starts to cry. Wiping her eyes, she suddenly realizes she needs to talk to her mommy about her daddy. Where is he? and why don't they talk about him? and how come Gibbs cares?

* * *

><p>Being thirteen isn't fair. Especially when you're worst enemy, Elizabeth Owens is in your class. Also when her mother is the teacher; she tends to play favorites. Apparently her mom has great, teaching essentials and Nobles felt they could trust her. Even though she isn't a nun, she got clearance and could be a good asset as Gibbs would say. Or maybe a lawyer would say. Gibbs doesn't seem like the type that'd admit defeat.<p>

"Thalia, I heard about your little sister" someone said in a taunting voice.

Thalia couldn't keep the stupid grin off of her face. She doesn't mind it when people call Ally her sister. She's always been like a sister towards her. Turning around to see whose speaking, the grin slips from her face. "Ally's my cousin. Not my little sister…what are you talking about?"

"Just that she's crazy and stupid" Elizabeth said not even holding back her cruel giggles.

"She is not" Thalia clenches her fists.

"I'm just saying that your parents oughta put her in a mental hospital. Oh wait you don't have parents" Elizabeth corrected herself. Thalia blinks, wondering if she heard her right.

"Don't you talk about, Thalia's parents like that" Bethany Warren ordered. She hates how Natalie thinks she can get away with everything. Just cos her mother is the teacher, doesn't mean she can play favorites.

"Why? Cos your mommy and daddy ditched you" Elizabeth said. Many kids gasp, that was going really too far with it.

"Shut the fuck up" Thalia hissed at her.

"Thalia she isn't worth it. You're better than her" Bethany said trying to lead her friend away from her.

"I bet they thought you were ugly" Thalia clenches her fist tighter. Bethany looks from each girl, hoping this won't end badly.

"No I bet its cos they didn't love you. Is that why they gave you up?" Elizabeth asked turning around with her annoying followers.

Thalia lunges at Elizabeth, both girls are rolling on the ground. Bethany tries to get her friend off of the teacher's daughter. Thalia's gonna get in trouble for this; big time. Just cos Mrs. Owens left the room doesn't mean a thing. Mrs. Owens is probably the meanest teacher in the school, even Jared agrees. And Jared is usually a pretty level headed guy. If he doesn't like somebody, then that makes all of the difference.

Bethany almost grins when Thalia lands two good punches in. That'll make her a very stupid raccoon. "What is going on here? Get off of my daughter, you brat" Mrs. Owens roughly pulls Thalia off of Elizabeth who is in tears.

"She started it, mom" all the kids in class look around. This cannot be fair. How a parent can teach their kids class without favoring shouldn't be allowed.

"Thalia Caruso, go back to your desk. I am going to call your aunt" Mrs. Owens ordered sounding cruel.

"But she started it, not me" Thalia squeaked sadly. Mrs. Owens doesn't even let her explain. This is completely unfair. How can this be fair at all. Why is she even teaching at Nobles, if she favors her own kid.

"I did not" Elizabeth pouted. Her white-blonde hair is in her light green eyes.

"Thalia Caruso, GO" Mrs. Owens practically shouted. Thalia wipes her eyes with her sleeve and walks to her desk. Elizabeth sort of grins, but then she winces. With the help of her mother she gets up and leaves for the nurse's office. Bethany shakes her head; knowing and feeling like this is just wrong.

Mrs. Owens doesn't waste any time to call Miss Caruso. She tries calling twice, only to be denied. Apparently Miss Caruso doesn't like answering her cellular device when she's in a meeting. Glaring more or less at Thalia; Mrs. Owens looks in her desk for the emergency contact. A smirk forms onto her face, when she takes out the paper. The emergency contact is an NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Luckily, _he_ picks up on the first ring. "Mr. Leroy Gibbs. This is Thalia's teacher. I am calling because Thalia brutally injured a female student. At the end of the day, could you come in? So we can discuss a fair punishment for her. Thank you" she looks over at the silent Thalia and grins evilly.

Taking a deep breath, Thalia decides on not giving her the satisfaction of crying. Instead she grins…she beat up Elizabeth. That just made her day.

"Dammit" Gibbs slapped his phone onto his desk. Why can't Julie's girls just behave for once? He sighed and runs a hand over his face.

"We have a case, Boss?" Tony asked hopefully. It has been a very slow week and he's getting sick of the kids. No offence to his children or anything, but work just seems like it has more excitement to it; now-a-days.

"No, Thalia got into trouble" Gibbs said. This just doesn't sound like Thalia. The way her teacher spoke, you would think she killed the other girl.

"What did she do?" Ziva asked sounding curious. She wonders what she and Tony will do if they ever have a daughter.

"From what I hear, she assaulted another student" Gibbs answered, his face becoming pale. This is bringing him back to the days when he had Kelly. She would get in fights with the girl across the street, Sadie Russo.

"She did? That doesn't sound much like Thalia" Tim said. Thalia usually seems like a sensible young teen.

"Did Sister Lucy call?" Tony asked with a smirk forming on his lips. He can't help it, this is good. At least it isn't one of his little miscreants. He can tell by Tim's somewhat relieved face. That he's glad it isn't Luke either, but Luke is perfect. According to Abby, Luke would never cause trouble.

Gibbs said. "Worse…her teacher" even Tim has to admit. That is bad. A teacher calling to tell you, your kid has done something wrong. Then that cannot be good.

"Ooh that's bad" Tim shakes his head. At least it was Luke who did this.

"Yah think DiNozzo" Gibbs scoffed, rubbing his silvery hair. He gets up and stalks down to Abby's Lab.

"Poor Thalia, Gibbs is gonna blister her ass" Tony sighed. He doesn't know if he'd ever want to spank his future daughter.

"You don't know that" Ziva said hopefully. She really likes Thalia, like her own daughter. Although she knows she deserves it. Too be honest, Ziva knows she'd never have it in her to spank Thalia.

"Tony's right" Tim said, looking like he drank vinegar. "I never thought I'd say those words, but he's right" Tony puts on a charismatic smile.

"I never thought I'd hear those words" Ziva said shaking her head. She hears the words, but doesn't want to believe it's true.

"Well, Thalia's ass is grass" Tony replied smoothly. Tim can't help but smile at the sad truth. Poor kid, Gibbs spankings are much worse than spankings from other people. He just hopes Thalia will realize that after this.

"What does that even mean?" Ziva asked laughing nervously. Her brown hair is curly and is falling into her brown eyes.

"It means someone's doom or demise. I thought you would've memorized that meaning, my lovely" Tony said giving his wife a beautiful grin.

Ziva winked at Tony. "In Israel we call that a spanking" she saunters off; already knowing that her husband is staring at her ass.


	6. Chapter 6

Tap-tap…tap-tap. Gibbs strummed against the wheel of his car. He has been sitting in his car for the past twenty minutes; trying to think things through. Tap-tap…tap-tap again and again Gibbs swallows hard. Thalia isn't his daughter. It isn't the same with Ally. She knows how it is with her mom and him dating. Thalia is different; she reminds him a lot like an older version of Kelly. Only she's so different as well. He drums against the steering wheel; tap-tap. After a few moments, Gibbs gets out of the car and strolls inside.

Gibbs has already decided to let Thalia stew for a little bit longer. It isn't like she has any plans today. He decides on going to see Ally's teacher; first. He got a call from Julie; explaining how she was selling the apartment and club. How she'd be booked with meetings all day. The little cutie pie is in the hallway. Gibbs can tell she has been crying; due to her reddened eyes. "What's the matter, Princess?" he asked softly.

"Nothing" Ally harrumphed at him.

"Why did mommy call me then?" Gibbs asked looking very calm.

"Cos, she's a tattle tale" Ally grumped.

"What happened?" Gibbs asked. His steel blue eyes look soft around Ally.

"Teacher called mommy who called you" Ally said trying to think of a way to get out of this mess. Why did Sister Paula even call?

"Why did your teacher call mommy?" he asked seriously.

"It's all your fault" Ally clenches her fist at him. Gibbs latches onto her hands he isn't really sure if she's going to hit him.

"What happened?" Gibbs asked ruffling her red hair. She's such a feisty little girl, reminds him nothing of Kelly. Maybe that's a good thing.

"You shouldn't ave give me da doggie tags" Ally said, crying into her hands. Gibbs squeezes her shoulders. He suddenly wishes Julie didn't call him. He isn't very good with angry six year olds.

"Is this about the dog tags? Did you lose them? It's okay if you did it by accident, princess" Ally secretly likes it when Gibbs calls her princess. That meaning, he's giving her a nickname; like daddies do with their little girls.

"No. No. No" Ally shakes her head, she starts to tremble. Gibbs gives her a gentle hug and smiles down at her.

"I'm going to talk to the nun now, okay? You just wait right here" Gibbs goes into the classroom; not hearing a response from the little red-head.

"You must be Mr. Gibbs. I'm Sister Paula, Ally's teaching. You can call me Paula or Sister Paula; whatever you feel most comfortable with"

"Did Ally do something? Is that why you called me in? Because if she did. I can assure you I will talk to her about it"

"No, Ally didn't do anything. This…well I was really hoping her mother could come in, but…Ally seems to have gotten into a fight today; due to bullying" Sister Paula said sounding like she's reading from an article.

"Was Ally the bully? Or was she being bullied?" Gibbs asked sounding very concerned.

"She was being bullied. I have already contacted the other students' parents and talked over punishments, but I think Ally may need to talk to her mother or maybe both of you about a few things" Sister Paula informed him.

"Like what?"

"Parental roles, Julie has already told me that you two are an item and I think for Ally this could be a confusing time. She doesn't know if you're her daddy or some man who'll only be around for a few months. She's six years old and I think that for Ally's sake. You need to sit her down and discuss these matters"

Gibbs pinches the bridge of his nose. "Julie and I've been putting that conversation off for a long while" Gibbs admitted quietly. "Thank-you, hope we don't have to see each other anytime soon." Sister Paula nods, she watches as the agent goes back into the hallway to leave with Ally.

"Princess, could you wait in the hall?" he lets go of her hands. Ally looks up at him with an indignant scowl on her face.

"Gibbs, I'm sick of the hall" she's been having to wait in the hall all day and she's sick of it. Gibbs has to agree with her, what kid wouldn't be sick of waiting around all day.

"I know, but Thalia will be out in a minute to keep you company" he promised smoothing out her red hair.

She lets out a breath of annoyance. "Okay"

Thalia almost smiles when she sees Gibbs. That is, until she sees his pissed off face, her eyes wander back down onto the tile-floor. "Hi Gibbs" Thalia mumbled softly.

"Don't you 'hi Gibbs' me, Thalia Caruso" Gibbs ordered his tone as hard as stone.

"I didn't start it" Thalia glared at him. She sounds so much like Ally. Now he knows where that six year old, gets her attitude.

"I don't care who started it. You never assault anyone. Do you hear?" Gibbs asked lightly shaking Thalia's shoulders.

"But, I didn't start it" Thalia repeated. He isn't letting her talk, this is SO unfair.

"Do you hear, Thalia Caruso?" he repeated sternly.

"This isn't fair. Everyone's against me! I want a lawyer" Thalia said slamming her hand against the desk.

"Don't talk, you don't get to talk. Go, in to hall" Gibbs ordered loudly. There's really no need to yell, if Julie was here. Things would be so different. She'd just apologize and stuff like that.

"But, Gibbs, this isn't fair" Thalia complained.

"I mean it, Go!" he lightly taps her knee; as a warning.

"No…no" Thalia said weakly. She has tears shining in her eyes. Gibbs doesn't dare look into those eyes of hers, he knows when he does. He'll melt, like an ice-cream left out during the summer.

"Trust me when I say this Thalia. I may look angry right now, if you don't go into the hallway. I'll smack your bottom" it's an empty threat, but Thalia turns red. Her teacher is smirking at this.

"But, Gibbs"

"Go, young lady. I mean it" Gibbs ordered firmly. What girls him the right to tell her what to do? Although, she doesn't want to get spanked if front of her teacher.

"Yes sir" Thalia wipes tears from her cheeks and reluctantly does as she's told.

"What's wrong, Thalia?" Ally asked trying to sit down beside Thalia who gently pushes her away. She doesn't like crying in front of people...not even her cousin.

"Nothing, I'm fine. Gibbs is a dick" Thalia blurted. She usually has a better tongue than that in front of Ally.

"What's that?" Ally asked, it sounds like a bad word. Even hearing that word; Ally can tell that her cousin knows it's a bad word too.

"It's…" Thalia stops herself and shakes her head. "A really bad word that Gibbs will swat you for…if Aunt Julie heard you say it she'd probably swat your ass too"

"Mommy, doesn't spank"

"She would if she heard you say that"

"Never!" Thalia grinned, wiping a few tears from her cheeks. She lets her cousin lean against her and starts humming a Taylor Swift song. Ally tries to hum along too. It's a shame she doesn't know the words.

Gibbs sits at one of the desks in the front row. He nods for Mrs. Owens to start talking because he has to bring the girls home. "Thalia, brutally injured one of the students, for that I think she shouldn't have recess for a month" Mrs. Owens said with a happy look in her eyes.

"That sounds fair"

"She should also apologize to the student"

"I agree, but why did Thalia fight?"

"She got mad and attacked the girl. From what I hear, Thalia was taunting the girl and then she attacked her because the other child retaliated" Mrs. Owens lied. Gibbs rubs his chin and sighs.

"I hope you know that I will have a very serious talk with her. When we get home and I can assure you. This won't happen again" Gibbs promised.

"Thank you so much for coming in, Mr. Gibbs. You defidently solved a problem. That was in need of attention"

"I hope so, have a good day"

"Oh I will" Mrs. Owens nodded at him. Her facial expression full of complete and utter happiness; Gibbs notices the faint smile appearing on her lips, but ignores it.

"Luke…I'm sorry. I was a jerk" Johnny said trying to keep up with his fast cousin. Boy, Luke oughta join track in high school.

"It doesn't matter"

"It does and you know it" Johnny sighed sadly. "I guess we're…sorta family" in Luke's opinion, it's a start. He guesses. Luke really doesn't know how to react to this change in character.

"Can you help me?" Johnny asked weakly. He knows that Cody and Kayla would never go for this idea, but Luke is new to the family. So he won't catch it too bad.

"With what?"

"One itty bitty little thing" Luke shakes his head. He knows full well that Johnny has something planned and it isn't going to be good.

"Depends on what it is"

"I need to get my I-pod back" Johnny explained. "You're gonna help me get back all of the stuff, Sister Kathy steals"

"Are you crazy?" Luke asked stunned.

"No, but she steals our stuff. DS's, comics, tec-decks, everything…come on Luke. We'd be doing our class a favor. And favors are good right. Anyway it isn't like Sister Kathy cares. It isn't her shit" Johnny said sounding very convincing. He oughta become a lawyer or something.

"I guess"

"Cool, come on. I have good pranks for Vance" Johnny said starting to walk a little faster. Luke struggles to catch up.

"You mean our dad's bosses" Luke asked with raised eyebrows. He cannot be serious; Vance doesn't have the best sense of humor. Ask Jared, he knows firsthand how Vance can be harsh since he is the Director of NCIS.

"Yeah, we're gonna have a prank fest" Johnny said his eyes glowing with happiness.

"Now I know you're insane" Luke confirmed, now he knows why his dad doesn't want him hanging around them. Johnny is a bad influence, but he's such a fun-loving guy. You can't help, but love to chill with him.

"Is it my fault I like to have fun? I think not" Kyle looks back and watches his brother and Lucas communicate with one another. They're actually acting like they somewhat enjoy one another's company. Johnny just needs to take his time with thing.

Luke couldn't help, but grin at him. He's such a clown; he must really like living each day like it's his last. "Do you wanna come over to my house?"

"I hafta call my dad" Luke blurted. Johnny looks over and grins. His green eyes are clouded with confusion.

"Does it matter?" Kyle called over his shoulder. Both boys look up; stunned. They didn't know that he could hear them.

"I don't think so" Luke lied. He's almost certain that his dad will be mad that he didn't call sooner to tell him. It isn't like he'd punish him or anything.

"Well if it doesn't, do you gotta call him?" Johnny doesn't have a cell phone. Kyle does, but he's hesitant with anyone who wants to touch it.

"I…no I don't" it slips Luke's mind that Candy is waiting at his house for him. Instead he turns with Johnny and Kyle towards their house. He's astonished to find that their house is much smaller, but much cooler looking than his own house.

Johnny leads Luke up to his bedroom; leaving Kyle downstairs to start a project. Luke looks around completely amazed. His bedroom is cool. Much like his, Johnny has a T.V. only it's smaller and is very messy.

"Sorry bout' the mess" Johnny said plopping onto his bed and making just enough room so that Luke can fit too.

"Doesn't matter" Luke said. His mom makes him clean his room a lot, even if it's a little messy. Luke bets that Tony and Ziva don't make Johnny clean his room a lot.

"What game do yah wanna play?" Johnny thumbs through the games he and Kyle are practically forced to share "Grand Theft Auto 3, Smash Brothers is okay, what about Call of Duty 3" Johnny said, technically he's supposed to do his homework when he gets home and let Ziva correct it after dinner. They should change it to when they get home.

Luke's almost positive like this isn't good for a kid whose dad is a secret agent. "Umm, are you sure Uncle Tony…I mean your dad, lets you play these games?" Luke asked with an unsure look in his eyes.

"Hell no, he doesn't know I got em"

"He doesn't?"

"No, I'm not allowed to have violent games. That's cause they think I'm some itty bitty baby. So I swiped it" Johnny explained simply. He makes it sounds like stealing doesn't even matter. He makes it sounds like what he does isn't illegal.

"You stole?" Luke's eyes look as big as saucers.

"Yeah, it's really easy. Kyle taught me, I'm like his, Apprentice. You ever see that movie?" Luke shakes his head. "So what do yah wanna play?" Johnny repeated his green eyes filled with excitement.

"Grand Theft Auto" Johnny hands him a controller. Then the real game begins. Luke looks over at Johnny who begins explaining how things work in the game. It's a one player game, but the boys have decided to switch off; every twenty minutes.

Thalia nervously walks into the house. The entire car ride was in silence. Not even Ally was cheeky when Gibbs said they couldn't go to McDonalds. She just harrumphed and looked out of the window. She must sense that she shouldn't push Gibbs too far or else he might spank her too. Thalia taps her fingers against the window; wondering what sort of torturous thing Gibbs is going to do. She knows that he's not going to actually torture her, but still…he is Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Ally already knows for certain Thallie's gonna get it. It meaning her butt spanked. Ally tries to suppress her giggles. She doesn't mean to be happy, that Thalia's going to get spanked. Everyone thinks Thalia is so awesome and when she gets caught; it's a remarkable moment. Both girls are too wrapped up in their own thoughts, to notice that Gibbs has pulled into their driveway.

All three of them walk into the house. Gibbs makes a mental note, not to ever let Thalia fight another student again. It isn't how girls should act. "Ally, go up to your room. Mommy and I will talk to you later" Ally looks from the stairs to Gibbs and grumps something along the lines of 'everyone always bein mean'. Gibbs takes a deep breath and rolls his steely blue eyes.

"Gibbs it wasn't my fault" Thalia said the second Ally is out of the room. "She started it not me."

"Don't talk, you don't get to talk, miss" Gibbs ordered. He guides Thalia over to the couch and pulls her out in front of him. "Listen up, little miss. I can tolerate many things, but lying and fighting aren't them." Thalia rolls her eyes. She feels like she's five years old again; being called little miss or miss when she's in trouble.

"I didn't do that" Gibbs gives her a look. "Well I got into a fight, but I didn't lie" Thalia said meekly. The look on Gibbs face, makes Thalia wanna start crying.

The older agent sighed. He hasn't had to be a father figure in such a long time. He runs a hand over his face. "Thalia, I want you to explain to me, why you did what you did and why was it wrong?" Gibbs ordered sounding very kind.

"Do I have to?" Thalia whined.

"Yes, you do. Now, tell me"

"Cos, I hate her Elizabeth…she's such a jerk. I'm glad she has a black eye" Gibbs motions for her to continue. "And, it was sorta wrong cos I shouldn't fight with people" Thalia said feeling weak.

"Why?" he urged with a smile on his face.

"Cos it's wrong"

"Why is it wrong?"

"Cause I should think before I do something" Thalia offered up. Her blue eyes are filled with such innocence. It almost makes Gibbs regret what he's going to do.

"That's right, Thal" Gibbs said pulling the unexpected ad surprised Thalia over his knee.

She's too stunned to speak when he starts spanking her ass over and over again. By the fourth hard smack she squeals and begins to realize what's going on. "Stop, your hurting me…it hurts" Thalia complained, tears start to roll down her cheeks. Gibbs ignores the protests and continues to spank until he hears soft sobs coming from the thirteen year old.

Thalia gets up from his lap and wipes the tears from her cheeks. She studies Gibbs saddened face and glares at him. How dare he? He isn't allowed to do stuff like this. Her dad is the only one allowed to stuff like this. If only he and her mom would finally stop trying to 'discover themselves' and come home.

"Are you okay?" Gibbs asked. Thalia gives him a hard look. She just got her ass whipped and he's asking if she's okay.

She shrugs her shoulders and bites her lip. "I'm sorry" Thalia offered sadly. Her blue eyes are red and filled with complete embarrassment.

"I understand that and I'm glad you're sorry, but I still need to know if you're okay" Gibbs said. He's never spanked anyone older than eight years old. Thalia is defidently not his baby Kelly or little princess Ally, but she's a special girl.

"I'm fine"

"Do you understand why I spanked you?" Gibbs asked softly. Thalia doesn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Cause I got into a fight"

"That and because I want you to grow up to know the difference between right from wrong. When you grow up, I won't be there to tell you how to live you're life. So right now, I want you to understand that whenever your aunt or I punish you. It's because we care about you and want you to grow up to be the best possible person in the world. Do you understand?" Gibbs asked looking very serious.

"Yes Gibbs, but what if I make lots of mistakes" Thalia asked an important question.

"We all make mistakes Thalia. Julie and I are here to help you learn from them" Gibbs said his blue eyes are sparkling with delight.

"Will you spank me, every time I make a mistake?" that's a very good question.

"It depends, I will if you lie, cheat, smoke, drink, get into a fight, or if you disrespect an adult. Although if you mistakenly make a mistake or act out because you have mixed feelings. Then we'll all talk about it. Does that make sense?" Gibbs asked his tone becoming softer.

"Yeah" Thalia agreed looking up at him. Now Gibbs knows that she knows why he spanks and knows what to do so she doesn't get any more.

"Good, now let's work on that project of yours" Thalia almost smiles as she sits down, but leaps up and starts rubbing her ass. 'He's way better than her real dad.' Julie comes home ten minutes later and helps out too.

Ally comes downstairs and watches while playing with her dollies. "What were you like when you were a kid?" Thalia asked she's never heard Gibbs say anything about his childhood.

"You were a kid?" Ally asked her eyes wider than anything. Thalia and Julie start laughing while Gibbs smiles playfully at her and taps her on the nose.

"Yes I was" Gibbs said, his eyes shine down at the fiery little girl.

Gibbs starts explaining what he was like as a boy. It turns out he was adventurous and always fooled around with the other boys. Julie starts laughing in the middle of the story when he stole apples from a lady across the street and sold them for two dollars. His dad really spanked his behind. In the end he got to keep the sixteen dollars he made that's only cos his mom never knew he made a profit.


	7. Chapter 7

If people don't like this story, then don't read it. I know that sounds rude, but don't comment on how you don't like my story. This is FANFICTION. I'm not an NCIS writer or anything. I'm only fifteen years old; I know my writing might stink. But please try your best to be a little considerate of me feelings. And, please try not to take this story seriously. I'm sorry, if I offended you in any way.

**Chapter 7**

Luke sighed in frustration. Kyle keeps saying he'll walk him home. He's ten years old, not some six year old! But, Kyle is persistent and at the moment; he's much taller than him. "Come on, Johnny. We need ta drop Luke off"

"I'm doin my homework" his little brother shouted.

"Too bad, I can't leave you alone, Tony's rule not mine, J" Kyle called up the stairs. Sometimes he feels like Johnny's damn babysitter. Johnny only comes downstairs cos Kyle called him J. He's the only one who does.

"You're as bad as Tony" he muttered causing Kyle to half grin. He nudges Luke who tries to smile, but he can't get off the thought of him in trouble.

He wonders if his dad will send him back. The kids at The Home are probably placing bets anyway. He's heard the older kids do that; sometimes with kids they don't like. It isn't as though the kids didn't like him. It's just they thought he was weird. Luke suddenly wishes he wasn't so weird. Most of the kids at The Home were over twelve that was probably it. Now that he thinks back on his life there; nothing was ever fair for him. All the kids knew his age, so he was a really easy target.

"Luke, are you listening to me?" Kyle asked gently shaking his shoulders. Luke looks up from his day dreams.

"Sorry, watcha say?"

"I'm getting picked up for soccer. So I'm going to drop you off at your street. Do you know you're address?" Luke remembers two numbers and the fact that they live on a block like Johnny. How hard could it be? Candy's car will be in the driveway anyway. Luke nods; confidently. "Good, are you cool with this?" Kyle asked kindly. He can always sprint to practice or get a different ride.

"Yep"

"You have everything?" the older boy asked.

Luke nods. The three children leave the house. It's sort of dark out. With Kyle in the middle; Luke and Johnny would never admit this but, they're scared. That's why Kyle is in the middle, so they can each have someone to cling to if they get scared.

Kyle chuckles when Luke grabs hold of his arm. "Baby" Johnny mumbled, he hears a mysterious sound and latches onto Kyle who smirks at him. Kyle being who he is, he doesn't comment on the fact that two ten year olds are clinging onto him like a first graders. The two boys let go of the blue eye rolling thirteen year old. Those two are such dorks; lovable dorks.

Once they reach Luke's street. Kyle doesn't seem to notice Luke's nervous glances and how he's walking slower. Johnny does. "Why yah walkin so slow? Do you have a curfew? Mine's nine on school days and nine _forty-five_ on the weekend" Johnny bragged, Luke looks at Kyle whose once again rolling his eyes.

"For once, Johnny's right. No offence, but we really need to get home. Are you sure you know the way to your house? It's cool if you don't" Kyle offered, but his eyes tell a different story. He needs to get to practice and by the looks of it he wants to.

"Hey! I'm offended by that!" Johnny muttered, he suddenly wishes Kyle wasn't so bossy and big brother like. He's like a disease.

"Shut up for a sec, J" Kyle ordered. This time, however Johnny obeys and slowly walks away from his brother. Sometimes he wishes Kyle would act more like his brother than his third parent.

"I know the way" Luke lied. Kyle nods, not sure if Lucas is lying or not. Luke awkwardly turns his back on the DiNozzo boys and starts walking.

If only he hadn't lied to Kyle. He's thirteen and probably knows the way. After ten minutes of mental chatter, Luke spins back around; fully expecting Kyle to be behind him. Instead Kyle is halfway down the block following a sullen looking Johnny. A Street light suddenly turns on; as does six others. It looks like a Broadway show leading up to…a broken light. Some show, Luke shoves his hands into his pockets and nervously starts clapping his hand against his thigh.

Still walking…more or less wandering, Luke hears a car jerk to a stop. Without thinking, he starts to run. Doors slam and someone chases after him. He feels his breath catch once the dude has a hold of him.

An angry, pissed off voice ordered. "Lucas, open your eyes" the voice sounds familiar, but Luke doesn't wanna take any chances so he shakes his head. Tears start to wobble down his cheeks. The ten year old wishes his dad was here. He'd protect him. "It's me, son" his father said trying to soften his tone.

Luke opens his eyes. "Dad!" he said wanting so badly to hug him. Tim shakes his head as though to say 'what were you thinking?' He leads his boy to the car. Weirdly enough, his thoughts trail back to the DiNozzo boys. They might cause trouble, but they're good kids at heart. And Luke could use a few friends like Johnny.

Pulling into their driveway, Luke's eyes widen with shock. There are four police cars with the lights flashing and firefighters. 'Why the hell would there be firefighters? How would they help?' Luke wondered, but didn't dare say. He didn't move from the backseat instead tears start to roll down his red stained cheeks.

"Come on, you have a lot of explaining to do, Luke" Tim encouraged, trying to nudge him out of the car. But, Luke is having none of it.

"Dad, I can't" Luke whimpered.

"You can, but you won't. Lucas McGee get out of the car" Tim ordered, looking surprised. He sounds sort of like his own father.

"No" Luke exclaimed.

"What did you just say?" Tim asked his eyes alert and focused onto his defiant son.

"…no" Luke whispered meekly.

"If you don't get out this minute, you're in big trouble" Tim threatened that emtpy threat. He remembers his father saying it to him and Sarah many times.

Luke mumbled. "I'm already in trouble…what's the point?" Tim opens his mouth to speak, but closes it. He got in trouble for sleeping over someone else's house without their knowledge; basically his parents did the same thing he and Abby did.

Only when he asked his father the same question, Henry McGee jerked his son out of the car and walked him into their house. With a smack to his rear every third step. Tim shudders. When he was a kid he never wanted to be anything like his father. Here he is, shouting at his son; exactly the way his father shouted at him. Tim decides on taking a different tactic. He doesn't want his future relationship with his son to be strained.

"What's the matter, son?" in such a kind tone it surprises Luke. Not the good surprise, instead of saying anything. Luke starts to cry.

"You should just send me back" Luke offered. Tim shakes his head, the thought of even doing that is unimaginable.

"I'd never dream of doing that" Tim promised giving Luke a crooked smile. Luke tries to smile back, but can't.

"Why?"

"Because I love you, your mom and I both do. We love you a lot"

"But I didn't call" Luke said rubbing his eyes. His entire face looks wet with sadness and remorse. It almost makes Tim his choice to punish him

"Listen Luke, I love you because you're my son. Not because you don't get into trouble, I get that all kids get into trouble a few times in their life. That doesn't mean I'm going to hold a grudge against you, your entire life. Do you understand?"

"Yes, but I can't go in there. Everyone's gonna be so mad" Luke whispered. "I worried them for nothing"

"You're right, everyone will be mad…for awhile, but not forever. Do you wanna know a secret?" a teary eyed, Luke nodded. "This event will pass. It might take awhile, but it'll pass. Soon, this'll just be a funny story, but don't think this will be a funny story tomorrow cause it won't. It'll take time" Tim said thoughtfully.

"Thanks, dad"

"Anytime son, are you ready?"

"Do I really gotta go in?" he whined finally sounding like a normal ten year old instead of a robotic wanna be good kid.

"What do you think?" Luke sighed; he already knows the answer to that question. Side stepping past all the police cars, Tim leads his son into the kitchen. Abby does a double-take when she sees the two of them. Quickly hanging up the phone, she walks over to Luke with her hands on her hips.

"Hi mom" Luke said softly. Abby has tears in her eyes, which causes Luke to feel even lousier than before.

"Don't you 'hi mom' me, little man. Do you know how much you worried us? Oh gosh, I love you so much. I couldn't bear if anything happened to you. Do you understand me, little man?" Abby wagged a finger at her son who has tears rolling down his cheeks. "Now give me a hug, sweetie" she sighed, not being able to handle those tears.

Luke happily accepts the hug his mother is offering. She ruffles his hair, she honestly doesn't know what she would've done if she lost him. The police officers and firefighters smile and frown at this. This is nice and all, but the kid completely wasted their day. They could have been looking for thieves and other children instead of him. The NCIS Agents who have kids of their own; nod like they completely understand. A few of the older cops and firefighters do the same.

"Lucas, you have something you want to say to the police officers, firefighters, and NCIS Agents?" Tim asked more like ordered sternly.

"I'm sorry I wasted your time" Luke said looking down shamefully.

Luke receives a few dull nods and mumbles of 'its fine' and 'its cool kid.' He looks down his ocean blue-green eyes filled with remorse. Tim eyes Luke; he suddenly feels utterly disappointed in his boy. Why didn't he call Candy? This entire chaotic event could have been prevented if he called. He suddenly knows how Tony feels, being a father to his sons. How can he do it with two? Tim can barely wrack his head around one. Abby wants more; she wants at least four. She already has the names picked out; her top picks are Caitlyn and Tyler. Four friggen kids, that's like the Duggard's with their 20 kids.

The cops are the first to leave. Then the firefighters and lastly the NCIS Agents; a few Tim knows from work. Agent Frankie Sanchez, who has a nine year old son of his own, was very understanding. Unlike a few of the firefighters; they glared down at Luke and shake their heads at him. Ashamed and embarrassed, Tim puts a comforting arm around Luke's shoulders. He sees him tense up at first and then relaxes.

"Luke, go up to your room while mom and I discuss a punishment" Tim ordered leaning against the counter and taking a sip of coffee.

"Dad, mom, I really am sorry" he sounds so sincere.

Tim and Abby resist the urge to cradle their little prince. He's ten years old and oughta know what he did was wrong. But the way he's looking now. Abby can't tell if he's ten or five. She points towards the stairs; like he forgot.

"You heard your dad, Lucas" Abby said firmly. Luke looks from parent to parent. He suddenly understands that he'll never win. The odds of him winning are slim, cause it's two against one. No fair, he slumps up the stairs. Thoughts of hiding might seem stupid, but he wonders if he should do it.

* * *

><p>Gibbs has explained how his day went with the girls. Julie explained that she has a buyer who went over the price range for the club. Both adults know Ally won't care. She has already said that she likes living in a big house. Even though, the house isn't that big, she likes it. That's probably since she's never lived in a house before. They just aren't sure how Thalia will take the news.<p>

"Jules, you do know we have to talk to Ally" Gibbs said with a raised eyebrow. He, himself was hoping to put this off for much longer. But, it seems like the day has come for them to discuss things with the family.

"I know, but Ally's never had a father figure in her life...until you" Gibbs smiles at her. That's...well that's a beautiful thing to say to someone.

"What ever happened to her real father?" he feels compelled to ask. After all, he did tell Julie about Shannon and Kelly.

"Thalia's parents had left her with me so they could find themselves; she was around six at the time. Men pretty much avoided me. I didn't blame them. I had a first grader on my hands. I met Nicholas Newton, Ally's father. He was a musician and we had a six month fling. Later when I found out I was pregnant. I was thrilled. Nick didn't want to have a baby. Didn't want a bastard child to ruin his future" Julie said looking like she might cry at any given moment. "After Ally was born, he signed away his rights as a parent. The girls and I went to live with my father."

"Is that why Ally's middle name is Nicole?" Gibbs asked. He's been wondering how Ally got her name for a long time.

"I wanted her to know, that her daddy loved her. Even though, I'm almost certain he could care less about her. I was young and stupid. I thought giving her a piece of Nick would somehow make me feel better, but it didn't. I know that this sounds selfish, but Gibbs. He's the father of my child and I wanted for anything for him to change. I was young and stupid" Julie furiously rubs her eyes. She looks a lot like Ally when she's upset.

"Julie" Gibbs whispered, giving her a kiss on the lips; comforting and loving. Those kisses are rare now-a-days.

"You know, I thank God every day. I'm so happy she doesn't look a thing like him. I know I sound silly Gibbs, but I don't think I could bare it if she did"

"Julie its okay, everything's going to be okay"

"No it won't Gibbs. As Ally grows up, there'll be more questions about her daddy. I don't think I can answer them"

"You won't want to, but you will. Julie, Ally has us both. I may not be her birth father, but I damn well love that child like she was my own" Gibbs said nodding to confirm how he feels.

"I know you do. That's why I love you so much" Julie said little tears fall down her face.

Gibbs wipes a few of Julie's stray tears. He hates it when she cries. They open the door to Ally's room to find the six year old playing with her Barbies and Bratz dolls. She grins brightly when she sees them. "Hi Gibbs, hi mommy…mommy are you okay?" Ally asked looking up at her mommy. She suddenly feels scared, her mommy never cries.

"Yes baby"

"Why, are you cryin?" Ally asked looking concerned.

"Mommy's just a little sad, is all" Julie admitted, Ally studies her mommy's face. Why would she be so sad? Is it something she did?

"Ally-cat, we need to have a little chat" Gibbs said, patting the spot in between him and Julie. The six year old sits in between the two of them.

"Thalia come in here" Julie called her voice catching and high-pitched. She needs to be in here too. This is officially a family meeting and she hasta be apart of this too.

"I'm busy, Auntie" Thalia shouted back sounding very disrespectful. Gibbs gets up; Thalia shouldn't speak that way to anyone let alone an adult figure.

"Make yourself unbusy and get in here" that's the firmest Gibbs has ever heard Julie. To be honest that's the firmest Julie's ever had been with the girls.

"Why?" Thalia asked her voice nervous and unsure.

"Because I said so, that's why" Julie ordered her tone stern. The door creaks open and Thalia walks in. She plops onto the bed, ignoring her aunt's eyes.

"Am I in trouble?" Thalia asked leaning against the frilly Princess Jasmine pillow that Julie got her last Christmas.

"No Thal" Julie replied, letting out a breath of relief. She actually listened to her.

"Am I in trouble?" Ally asked suspiciously.

"No princess" Gibbs answered smoothing out her tangled red hair.

"Girls, we have a different type of family. A special family, we have a family without a real birth daddy" Julie began; trying to use words that Ally and Thalia will be able to understand.

"Yeah, Thalia's daddy is someplace else. He's my Uncle right?" Ally asked, causing Thalia to suddenly become interested in the ceiling. She doesn't like to talk about her father or mother.

"That's right pumpkin, and your daddy is someplace else too"

"I know…where is he?"

"I don't know" Julie looks down; her face red with shame.

"Why don't you know?" Ally was practically shouting, but this time Gibbs didn't stop her. He figures this is her way of letting off steam.

"I don't talk to him" Julie said quietly.

"Why isn't he here?" so many why's and most of them. Julie doesn't have a real sufficient answer to.

How do you explain to a child, that her own father didn't want her? "Your daddy is a selfish man. Do you know what selfish means?" Ally shakes her head. "That means his only concern is himself. It isn't good to be selfish...he left us six years ago" Julie said softly. This hurts to say almost as much as it hurts to hear.

"Why did he leave?" Ally asked leaning against her mommy.

"He…didn't want to be apart of our family" Julie said surprising herself with honesty.

"Didn't he like me?" Ally asked chewing on her lip to keep from crying. Thalia stares at her fingernails. When Ally's sad, nothing good can come from it.

"Oh baby, you never met your daddy. I'm sorry you have to hear this, baby" crocodile tears start to roll down Ally's cherubic face.

"He missed out" Ally looks up. "He's a stupid man to leave. How could someone not want to get to know you? Your funny, sweet, and everything a daddy could ever want his daughter to be" Gibbs said, watching a now-proud Ally start to grin.

"Ally, our family is special cause you have so many people who love you. You don't need that daddy; when you have mommy, Thalia, Auntie Ziva, Auntie Abby, Uncle Timmy, Uncle Tony, Kyle, Johnny, Luke and me. We all love you so much and I'm certain that there's no family out there like ours" Gibbs said hugging her. Ally cries into his chest; he knows she'll leave a stain, but he doesn't care. He's had worse, thanks to McGee.

Ally sniffled. "Do I look like him?"

"No, you don't"

"Will I ever meet him?"

"If you want you can…when you're eighteen" Julie compromised. Gibbs blinks. He never would have allowed Ally to meet that S.O.B

"I don't wanna ever meet my birth daddy" Ally hiccupped.

"He was a jackass, Ally-cat" Thalia offered, receiving warning looks from Julie and Gibbs that say 'watch your language.' The thirteen year old has a wide innocent grin while her aunt starts reading **Junie B. Jones There's a Monster under My Bed**. Thalia has always liked those books. They were fun to read and listen to.

* * *

><p>As a rule, the boys always have to wash their hands before dinner. Ziva doesn't like it when the boys come in and start eating with filthy hands. She can tolerate a lot of things, but gross hands aren't one of them. Well hygiene on its own is apart of her department of parenting; brushing their teeth, making sure Johnny takes a shower, and eating healthy as well.<p>

"Did you two wash your hands?" Tony asked suspiciously.

"Yeah" they chorused, Johnny has his fingers crossed behind his back and Kyle only rinsed. He didn't really use soap, just made some of the dirt come off.

"Let me see" As a trained special agent, both Tony and Ziva can tell when the boys are lying. They both can tell when water has been running for five minutes to make it look like they did as they were told.

"Aww come on"

"Don't you trust us?"

"Just do it" Tony ordered softly.

The boys hold their hands out. Ziva tightly presses her lips together to keep from smiling; as Tony goes from one boy to the next. He looks like a Marine Sergeant with his cadets, trying to weed out the men from the boys. First of all, Johnny's hands look gross and Kyle's look clean enough. He guesses, that Kyle barely washed them. At least he did.

"Johnny, go back in there and actually wash your hands. Kyle, go sit at the table for dinner" Tony ordered looking past his son's and at the T.V. How come its never on anymore?

"No fair, he only rinsed!" Johnny pouted. He stalks into the bathroom and angrily turns the water on in the sink.

"I used a little soap" Kyle glares at the back of his brother's head. That dweeb, he's such a tattletale sometimes. Johnny mumbles something under his breath about being the youngest and how it's unfair.

The food smells so good. It's chicken stir fry with mashed potatoes. Kyle was sort of surprised Ziva had time to make it. Considering, how their case is cold at the moment everyone has been on edge. The two of them hadn't been home to eat a real family meal in a long time.

"You two had Lucas over today, yes?" Ziva asked causing Johnny to almost choke on his milk. Kyle did call he wants to say, but doesn't.

They nod in between mouthfuls of chicken. "Did you know he's in trouble?" Johnny swallows and looks up; astonished.

"Why?" Johnny squeaked out.

"He didn't call Tim or Abby to let them know he wouldn't be home" Ziva answered tersely, giving Kyle a look. The older boy shrugs his shoulders as though to say 'not my fault.'

"Did you know, that his babysitter was waiting an hour for him?" again they shake their heads. "She called the police thinking he got kidnapped" Tony said calmly. That they knew, but Luke is old enough to be his own man.

"Sorry" Kyle said and he means it to. Luke's really going to catch it for this. Maybe he should have lent him his phone.

"Sorry" Johnny said sorrowfully.

Ziva answered, "It is fine. Luke is home safe and nobody got hurt. You two just need to understand that things that seem little may have a big outcome." She knows full well that by saying the boys may not learn from their mistake. But they are boys.

"We will, next time" Kyle promised, Johnny nods in full agreement with his brother. Ziva smirks at them; they actually think there won't be a punishment for this. At least they're optimistic.

"I'm happy to hear that, but no T.V. for the rest of the night that goes for both of you and when I say T.V. That includes video games"

"Aww…alright" both of them moaned and groaned, but in the end Tony and Ziva stayed firm. No T.V. is a better punishment than a spanking. Spankings are for serious offences and taking away privileges are for the small ones.

"I was wondering something" Johnny said swallowing the chicken and mashed potatoes with a smile in his eyes.

"Go, for it" Tony said openly.

This is a good start. "Could I umm…call you mom and dad?" Johnny asked nervously. He hopes to God, they don't hate this idea.

"We'd like that a lot kiddo" Tony said trying very hard not to cry. Ziva smiles at him and smoothes out his hair.

"Well I want to call you, dad and Ziva, mom. But, you can choose you own titles" Kyle said causin the adults to grin at him. His funny man antics never seem to stop.

"That's funny; you have a shiny future in becoming a comedian" Tony said rubbing his chin methodically.

"Aww and I was hoping to become an NCIS agent" Kyle mocked. Tony clips the back of his head.

"I wanna be a millionaire or a pilot or something cool!" Johnny swallowed hard. He wants to try it out. "Mom, dad" he said to himself. It sounds like it's a word alien's use. He hasn't said those words in months. Kyle cracks a beautiful grin and shakes his head; he reminds Ziva of the sweet Tony who would do anything to make someone else happy. Johnny's a much more immature version of Tony who can't stop goofing around, he jokes around for smiles. Basically the boys like to make other people smile. She couldn't be prouder of that.

* * *

><p>"No, Timothy McGee, you can't and won't" Abby ordered with her hands perched on her hips.<p>

"I can and will. He worried a lot of people today, Abs" Tim said trying to keep his voice down.

"He's a little boy" Abby said. She knows spanking is helpful, but she just doesn't want to hear the cries that come on the end of a spanking. It hurts to hear more than anything. She's heard Johnny take a spanking and doesn't like how it sounds. She knows for a fact Ziva hates spanking them, but 'it works'.

"I know he is, but when my dad spanked me it kept me in line" Tim informed her.

"You don't talk to your parents, McGee! I don't want it to be that way with Lucas. He's my baby" Abby said. Now Tim gets it. She doesn't want to lose her baby. The way his mother lost him.

"That's where you're wrong. I don't talk to them, because they didn't agree with my life choices" Tim said sourly. He only spoke to them last week to tell them he's married and has a son.

"Timmy, he's only been with us for a few weeks. I want him to adjust, well with us"

"I do too, but kids need their boundaries and today he squashed one" Tim said throwing his hands into the air and looking like a madman.

"He didn't know"

"He knows well enough to call home. Candy was worried sick and frankly I don't think he's considered her feelings" Tim said quieting his voice a little.

"I always wanted to be like my mother when I had children; fair and firm" Abby sounds wistful. Tim wants to tell her she is, but he knows that isn't what she wants to hear.

"What would your parents have done if it was Rob?" Rob is Abby's younger brother who caused a little less trouble than she did. That's not a compliment. Abby caused trouble that it should be illegal. "And it was the eighties" Tim added. He knows the eighties were the highlight of the spanking era.

"My mama would've spanked Robbie and sent to bed without any supper 'an empty stomach leaves the soul wonderin' and once your wonderin' you wake up knowin' what you did was wrong' my brother and I were told that many times. Now dad, he was a different story. He would've done the same thing only without a speech; just take us over his knee. Then he'd make us explain what we did wrong. We always dreaded mama's spankings more than dad's. Somehow hers seemed to be more serious" Abby explained seriously. Tim nods with a smile forming on his lips. He's met Abby's mama and when she's mad she isn't afraid to tell you.

"I'll remember that" Tim starts up the stairs.

"Tim, I'm not giving you permission to spank him" Abby said courageously. Tim looks back at her and nods.

"I know"

"So what are you going to do?" Abby asked incredulously.

"I'm going to talk to him" he answered. Abby huffs at him, but doesn't say anything more as she goes into the kitchen to start dinner.

Luke has never seen his mom or dad mad. Today they weren't just mad. They're pissed off. He guesses they have every right to be. He did sort of worry them. And he worried the police and firefighters and NCIS people. There's a knock on his door. He looks up to see his dad walk in. He has a cardboard box in his hand. Luke studies the carpet.

"We have a problem here, don't we?" Tim asked placing Luke's blue painted wooden work chair in front of him.

"Yes sir" Luke agreed quietly.

"I'm going to be honest with you" Tim explained. His father would've yelled at him till his ears fell off. "What you did today wasn't just wrong. It was inconsiderate towards our feelings and Candy."

"Candy!" Luke remembered. A rush of guilt flows through his spine; dammit.

"You had her running in circles today looking for you. How can you find someone when you don't know where to look?" Tim asked firmly.

Luke opens his mouth to speak, but Tim cuts him off. "It's a rhetorical question" the ten year old closes it.

"I'm really sorry" Luke tried.

"I know, but that doesn't excuse what you did. Lucas, mom and I've decided that your grounded for one week" Tim starts packing a few of Luke's toys away.

"What are you doing?" Luke asked curiously. He sits down on his bed and watches as his father places his comic books into the box.

"I'm packing up your toys" Luke's eyes widen. Is he really going to take away all of his toys for a week? His room will be empty.

"What'll I play with?" the ten year old asked stupidly. Tim looks at him and wonders for five seconds on how he got moved up. Then he remembers he's ten years old.

"That's the point of being grounded Lucas. You can't do anything fun, while your grounded. Those are the breaks, kid"

"But, that's my stuff. You can't just take it. Hey let go of that" Luke exploded. His dad is so mean. How come he's taking away his stuff? He said he was sorry to those cops and stuff. No fair. No fair at all.

"Luke I want you to take a deep breath and count to ten. You hear?" Tim said rubbing Luke's back. Luke's Social Worker has told them Luke has breakdowns sometimes when he's mad. All he needs to do is count to ten.

Luke does as he's told and calms down some. That is until, he sees Tim unplug the T.V. and place the X-Box 360 into the box. "Let go of that. It's mine!" Luke screeched. He lunges at Tim; kicking and punching him in the ribs.

Tim, who's had enough of his attitude, smacks Luke's bottom; hard. His lower lip wobbles and Luke sits down on his bed and watches his father pack away the rest of his toys. Tim goes downstairs for a few minutes and heads right back up. Luke's still frozen on his bed, he looks stunned. "This is for your own good. Come on, dinner will be ready in ten" Tim nudges his shoulder.

"Not hungry" he mumbled looking quite angry. Tim doesn't blame him. He's ten years old and doesn't have anything to play with anymore.

"You know the rule. You always come down to the table, even if you're not hungry" Luke rolls his eyes. He knows the stupid rules cause they're stupid and silly.

"It's a stupid rule" Tim doesn't say anything for a minute. Luke didn't think that rule was so stupid when he first moved in.

"I know you're mad about me taking your toys away, but it could've been worse" Tim said hoping Luke will come downstairs without making a scene.

"How? You stole my stuff?" Luke asked sniffling a little.

"I didn't steal your stuff. You'll get it back at the end of the week, but that just depends on how you behave. Consider yourself lucky, I didn't spank you. Now get downstairs and wash up for dinner" Tim ordered. He's getting a little sick and tired of this rebellious attitude.

Luke looks around his room and sighs. It's practically empty now. Besides his desk, bed, carpet, his coloring set, and a few action figures Tim kindly left behind. Luke groans, what is, he supposed to do all week; color and play with dolls. He suddenly wishes he never did this in the first place. Stomping down each step, Luke makes his way into the kitchen. Abby watches as he sits down without even wincing. She looks at her husband who has finished caring all of the boxes. Going to his side, she leans in and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

* * *

><p>Thalia rubs her hind quarters. Her butt doesn't really hurt so much anymore. Gibbs only gave her eight swats. She's heard stories from the DiNozzo boys, that they get one swat per each year of their life. Now that she thinks about it. Gibbs could've spanked her tons harder and she sort of deserved it. Part of her believes she deserved it and the other part believes that Gibbs should have listened better.<p>

She quietly walks into the basement. Ally is already tucked away in bed. She can hear Aunt Julie singing as Gibbs sands his latest boat. Thalia wonders if her aunt is drunk, she's never heard her singing before. "Hey, what are you doing up?" Gibbs asked Julie follows his eyes to see Thalia at the top of the stairs.

"I-I need to talk to you" Thalia stuttered, her confidence lacking.

Gibbs nods and motions for the teen to come; half-suspicious half-concerned. Thalia slowly walks over to his feet. "What's up?" Gibbs asked noticing her bite chewing nervous behavior.

"I get why you spanked me" Julie's eyes become wide. She never thought she'd ever hear Thalia say that, but there are things in the world that are unexplainable.

"Do you?"

"Yeah cos I got into a fight and you guys want me to grow up knowing right from wrong" Gibbs nods satisfied that she knows what she did was wrong.

"Why are you down here, Thal?" he asked softly.

"Cos you were unfair" Gibbs looks at her. How was he unfair? He knows why she got into trouble and told her what she did was wrong. In addition to that, he didn't really spank her that hard. Plus he only gave her eight taps. He could've given her thirteen spanks.

"Explain to me, how I was unfair?" Gibbs said his eyebrows rose with disbelief.

"You didn't lemme tell my side. You always lemme tell my side" Thalia said little tears trickle down her cheeks.

"Thalia…" he started, but she shakes her head at him. No…he can't talk. Thalia takes a deep breath.

"No, just listen okay" Julie touched Gibbs forearm and gives him a look; to listen. Just for five minutes to what Thalia has to say. "Elizabeth started it, not me. She called me names; said my parents left cos they didn't love me. I know that isn't true. Mom and Dad left cos they needed to find themselves. Then her mom, who's the TEACHER, obviously was on her side. Cause she's her kid and stuff. I thought when she called you…you'd lemme explain my side, but you didn't. You were on Mrs. Owens side and…and that's not fair cos now nobody's on my side and I'm all alone" Thalia trembles sadly.

Gibbs sighed. He never wanted Thalia to feel that way. He pulls the teen in a hug and shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Thallie. I'm sorry" Gibbs repeated wiping the girl's teary eyes. He sometimes forgets that Thalia is still a child.

"Gibbs"

"Yeah"

"Rule 6; never apologize it's a sign of weakness" Thalia said in a somewhat confident tone. Gibbs chuckles at her. They stop hugging and study one another's facial expressions.

"Rule 51, sweetheart" he whispered causing Thalia to blink; surprised and unsure. She doesn't know what Rule 51 is. Julie has a blank look on her face, so she must not know what Rule 51 is as well.

"Can I get switched out of Mrs. Owens class?" Thalia asked her face filled with hope.

"Of course" Julie responded. Thalia grins happily at her. That's a relief. She can already feel a weight lifted from her shoulders.

Both of them look at Gibbs who rolls his eyes and nods. "Now, go on up to bed. You have a big day tomorrow"

"I love you…both of you" Thalia said carelessly. She wants to sound careless about those words, but she can tell it isn't that careless to say I Love You to someone. Julie smiles while Gibbs downs a sip of his coffee and works on the boat with a wide smile playing on his lips. Julie can't imagine a more perfect moment than this to start kissing his neck. Gibbs being Gibbs, kisses her back; first on her lips and then neck. 'Oh great, we're going to do it on a boat. I hope I don't get any splinters' Julie thought.


	8. Chapter 8

**HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Peace to everyone who's reading this.**

**Two Weeks Later (Its early October instead of September)**

Ziva stared timer on her cell phone only a few minutes remaining. Her dark brown eyes perplexed with complete and utter worry. She had locked the bathroom door, just in case. Thankfully the boys knew better than to barge into the bathroom when the door was shut. Tony did too. Ziva sighed for once she didn't know what to do. DiNozzo Senior was in town.

The timer beeped. A hesitant Ziva went over to the sink and did something she thought she'd never do. She gasped. This cannot be right. That + sign is wrong! She can't be…pregnant. How will she tell Tony? He seems content with the life they have.

A knock on the door startled her. "Mom, dad says he's ready to go" Johnny said miserably. Ziva understands why he sounds so miserable. They're all going to an NCIS banquet; the kids are being forced to come too. DiNozzo Senior said he'd meet them at The Cheesecake Factory after.

Yesterday Johnny and Luke got caught 'stealing items' from Sister Kathy's desk. Sister Lucy is understanding and decided they will miss recess for a few days instead of a suspension. Right when they got home, he got a spanking. He also got grounded for the rest of the weekend because he threw the biggest tantrum Tony and Ziva has ever seen from their youngest child. Ziva thinks Luke might've gotten a spanking as well, but can't be too sure. Abby tends to coddle him.

Ziva drops the pregnancy stick into her purse and threw the box into the trash bin. "Do I hafta wear this?" Johnny whined, following her into the living room.

He has mud on his black dress shoes. Ziva ignores his question. "How did you get mud on your shoes?" she demanded angrily.

"I was kickin' the ball around" Johnny lied. He really only went outside to get himself dirty enough not to wear the dress shoes.

"After I specifically told you, not to go outside" Johnny puts on his best guilty looking face. His eyes blink innocently up at her.

He shrugs, like he can't help it, but get into trouble. Ziva closes her eyes and tries not to get annoyed with the eleven year old. It isn't his fault, she's so upset. "Put on another pair of shoes" she sighed.

"I don't got anymore dress shoes"

"Any shoes will do Jonathan" Ziva inwardly snapped at him. Tony, who has been sipping his beer; blinked, Ziva hardly ever snaps at Johnny.

Johnny's smart enough, not to smile at this victory. He grabs his favorite pair, which are perched on the staircase; his blue ones with green laces. "I wonder how those got there, John" Tony said mockingly.

"I dunno" Johnny mumbled, his face red.

"I'm sure, put them on in the car. Kyle, come on" Tony said his temper beginning to diminish. Ever since Kyle has gotten this new Modern Warfare 3 game; he's been addicted.

"One minute" Kyle said, he's in the middle of a game. Can't his dad see that video games are the future?

"NOW" Tony boomed sounding too much like Gibbs. He shudders and stares at him self in the mirror. Thank God they only have two kids. Tony thinks he'd go completely nuts if he had more than two. Of course; he and Zi will have more lately on, but right now two is plenty.

Kyle reluctantly switches the game off and goes downstairs. He doesn't really mind what he's wearing. It isn't as bad as Johnny's whose wearing black dress pants, a red polo and…are those sneakers? Tony got mad when Johnny didn't decide on what to wear and chose for him.

"I'm coming. I'm coming. Jeesh, I'll bet you guys ave' been to millions of these things. Missing one wouldn't hurt" Kyle

"This is very important; for mom and me. I want you both on you're best behavior" Tony said wagging a finger at both of them.

Tony suddenly flashes back to when his father brought him to a banquet. He was twelve and caused lots of trouble. Tony DiNozzo didn't want to go to the banquet. Instead of making the best of it; he put vodka in the punch, set off fireworks, and even put a fart cushion under the boss's seat. To say his dad was mad was the understatement of the century. That was the first time his father ever belted him bare.

Even to this day, Tony winces whenever he sees his father's belt. That thing hurt like a bitch. Johnny snaps him out of this childhood memories. "Why are you lookin' at me for? Kyle causes more trouble than me" he moaned. For some reason, he has it in his head that his parents think he causes lots of trouble.

"No, I just don't get caught" Kyle is starting to think he's a big-shot, just because he turned fourteen and Johnny turned eleven two months ago. He's technically three years older than Johnny. That and the fact being he's in ninth grade and Johnny in sixth grade.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ziva asked peering suspiciously at her son.

"Nothing" Kyle murmured; his smile brightening up the entire room. Ziva shakes her head and decides not to press to hard on it.

"I'll bet, now you two get into the car before do something you'll regret" Tony threatened his hollow threat.

"I'll race you" Kyle offered. He's faster than Johnny, but sometimes he'll let his little brother have a head start. And every once in a blue moon he lets him win.

"Okay!" Johnny loves it when Kyle does anything with him. Kyle may be bossy and annoying, but when he isn't. He's the coolest brother in the world.

"Dad, can you say go. I don't want the squirt to cheat" Kyle said in a polite way. He's only ever polite when he wants something.

"Fine, but by the time I get out there. You two better be in the car or else" Tony said with a playful smiling on his lips. If they're late, they're late.

"One…two…three…three and a half…three and three quarters…GO" Tony said slowly, sounding out each letter of the word.

Both boys race out of the house, like they're tails are on fire. "Thank God there's on two of them, right?" Tony joked, but Ziva can tell by his tone that he's serious. Her hand touches her stomach and she nods her face pale.

"Zi, are you alright?" Tony asked nudging her gently.

"I am fine" Ziva said looking aggravated. Tony scratches his chin wondering what he, or Kyle or even Johnny did this time.

"You look a little sick. Do you want to stay home? I'll look after you" Tony offered his face saddened with concern.

* * *

><p>"I said I am FINE and I'm fine. What you do not trust what I say? Is it that you believe I lie to you?" the look in Ziva's eyes are taunting and glaring dangerously at him. Tony steps back into the wall.<p>

"I trust you…I-I do not think you lie. Unless you do, but you never do so…uhh the boys are waiting for us" Tony rushes out of the house. Being alone with a pissed off ninja wife is like having a death wish.

"How do I look?" Thalia twirled around, her chest looks somewhat visible. Gibbs doesn't want her to go out wearing that. Sure the dress is a nice purple color, but her…her…you can see her chest for goodness sake.

"Beautiful" Julie commented she wipes her eyes. Thalia sure is growing up.

"Put something else on?" Gibbs growled at her.

"Gibbs!" Thalia shrieked.

"Thalia" he warned.

"This is the third time" she stamped her foot, Julie grins. Thalia still acts like a child which is a good and bad thing. Julie doesn't want her too grow up too fast.

"Put on something more appropriate, then" Gibbs said taking a sip out of the Starbucks coffee cup.

"Auntie Julie, do something" Thalia begged. Her teenage hormones suddenly coming into play with everyone.

"Thalia, listen to Gibbs" Julie said trying to sound firm. Thalia glares at each of them for a good few minutes.

"Fine. I can't wear anything around here" she huffed, storming back into her room and slamming the door. Gibbs starts up the steps, but Julie grabs his forearm.

Julie shakes her head. He's so prude. "This is to be expected with a teenager"

"I don't know what her problem is, these days" Gibbs groaned. He runs a hand over his face. Thalia just seems cranky and moody all of a sudden.

"What do you want her to wear?" Julie asked jokingly.

"I don't want her to show any part of her body. Maybe we can send for a few of those beautiful nun dresses" Gibbs said his silvery blue eyes filled with innocence.

"I think Thalia would kill you Gibbs. Which brings me to this, Thalia well Thalia got a gift yesterday" Julie said trying to make things as simple as she can for the poor guy without saying its Thalia's time of the month.

"What? What'd she get? It better not be one of those damn push-up bras or a thong. If she has a thong I'm going to burn it. I swear I will" Julie shakes her head. For a trained NCIS agent he sure is stupid sometimes, especially with teens.

"No this 'gift' is different. It means she's becoming a woman" Julie said clearly looking uncomfortable with this entire conversation.

"Jules, what is the gift? How can a gift help her become a…oooh. You mean she…she got THAT. But she's only thirteen years old!" Gibbs protested.

"It happens with all girls, Gibbs. I got mine at twelve. Ally will probably get hers in about seven years or so. I read that even eleven year olds get it" Julie shrugs her shoulders. She doesn't think this is that big of a deal.

"NO WAY IN HELL IS ALLY GETTING HERS AT ELEVEN" Gibbs shouted defiantly.

"Mommy, what am I getting when I'm eleven?" Ally asked naively. She's so cute in her red dress and black shoes. Her red dress matches her red hair and temper.

"Nothing baby, you're not getting anything when you're eleven" Julie replied smiling down at her little girl.

"Damn right nothing" Gibbs muttered under his breath.

"How come Gibbs gets to say damn and when I say it. You hit my hinny" Ally complained angrily.

"Because six year olds aren't allowed to say damn" Julie answered simply. She has her eyes on the staircase.

"Can I say it when I'm seven?" Nor Julie or Gibbs can answer that question because Thalia's door opens.

"I'm ready to go" Thalia said, now she's wearing a short dark blue dress with flats. Julie sort of forced her to wear pantyhose.

"Oh she is NOT wearing that! Did you see how short that was? I don't want that DiNozzo boy staring at her butt all day" Gibbs shakes his head. Julie can't help but smile. Gibbs is taking over the overprotective father very well.

"I thought you liked that DiNozzo boy" Julie mimicked, causing even more distress for Gibbs.

"I do, but not when he flirts with Thalia" Gibbs commented dryly.

"He's your agent's son and a teenager" Julie pointed out.

"My point exactly" Gibbs said grabbing his extremely large gray NIS sweatshirt and stalking out of the house.

He chucks it at Thalia. "Here, put this on" he ordered in a no nonsense tone. Julie rolls her eyes, but get into the car not wanting to see how this turns out.

"Are you serious?" Thalia asked, looking into his cold blue eyes. She groans and reluctantly puts the sweatshirt on. It goes down to her knees.

"Now you look beautiful" Gibbs said ruffling her dark brown hair. He wonders where she got those dark locks from. Thalia tries hard not to smile, but does anyway. Ally starts colouring a dragon blue.

* * *

><p>Abby glared at McGee. How could he have done that to Lucas? Tim turned the corner into NCIS parking lot. He sneaked a peek at the pissed Abby and sighed. How long was she going to be mad at him? Luke waved at the DiNozzo's who were parked right beside them.<p>

"Lucas, walk with the DiNozzo's. Your dad and I need to talk" Abby cooed sweetly, her tone so sugary. It makes Luke's ears hurt.

"Okay!" Luke said eagerly. His butt still hurts from yesterday and besides that his parents are fighting. Only he can't figure out what it is. It might be the fact that his dad forced him to wear a penguin suit. Nobody else hasta wear a penguin suit. Luke takes note on how Johnny's wearing sneakers! He looks back at his parents and trembles. You could cut the tension with a butter knife.

The second Luke closes the car door; Abby turns and glares even harder at Tim. He didn't think that was possible, but it is. The skinny man nervously shrugs his shoulders, sometimes Abby scares him. "Abby, don't you give me that look. Luke deserved a spanking" Tim said rewarding her with a different look. It's a look that says 'please stop being mad at me' or 'I don't care, but I sort of do.' He only gave him eight smacks and they weren't that hard.

"He did NOT!" Abby shouted her arms folded over her chest.

"He stole from his teacher, lied about it, blamed another student, and wasn't at all remorseful about what he did" Tim explained.

"Don't you love him?" Abby asked her eyes wide and angelic.

"I love him more than life itself, but what he did wasn't just wrong. It was mean and a horrible thing to do" Tim pointed out.

"It still doesn't make it right" Abby said opening her car door and storming out. Tim gets out of the car too and watches as she stalks into the banquet. Abby can sure walk fast wearing platform black high heels.

Luke walks in with Johnny and Kyle. All three of them instantly walk to the snack table; it's unhealthy food galore. "My mom's really mad at my dad" Luke said through a mouthful of cookies.

"What did your dad do?" Johnny asked curiously. That's really weird; Luke's parents hardly ever fight. Auntie Abby is always so forgiving.

"I don't know. But they're ignoring each other" Luke said looking extremely sad with this apparently terrible news. Kyle rolls his eyes.

"Parents fight all the time, no big deal. Tony and Ziva fight tons and look at them" Kyle said stuffing a brownie into his mouth.

"They do not!" Johnny countered. Kyle clenches his fist at him. Johnny looks down and pretends to be interested in the green grass.

"That's different, mine haven't talked for a day" Luke said sounding stuck-up. Kyle glares at the ten year old and then an idea hits him; a most certainly wonderful idea.

"Oh that can't be good. I shouldn't tell you this, but…nah I can't tell you. It's just so bad that I shouldn't" Kyle said wistfully. He puts down his 2nd brownie and pats Luke on the back.

"What do you mean?" Johnny and Luke asked at the same time. Kyle can tell by their overly anxious looks that this is going to be awesome.

"Do you really wanna know?" Kyle asked pretending to solemn and serious.

"Yeah" the practically screamed, Kyle puts his finger to his lips. They instantly stop fidgeting and squirming to hear what he has to say.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, but that spells out divorce; plain and simple" Kyle explained making his face look confident and sad.

"No! NO it doesn't" Luke screeched. A few adults look over at the three of them; Kyle glares at Luke who looks down sadly.

"Does too, before Mattie's parents got he said his parents stopped talking to each other and then they got divorced" Kyle looks around for Jared. Anything is better than talking to a bunch of ten year olds.

"What should I do?" Luke begged.

"Matt said that if he knew sooner. He would've tried to make his parents fall in love again, but Mattie is fourteen. He's much older than you, so I don't know" Luke lied, he oughta become an actor. If Mattie had known sooner, he would've thrown a damn party. He hates his mother.

"Hey Kyle, wanna play some football. We need a linebacker" Jared called. Kyle smiles and instantly runs over to the other older kids. His conversation with Johnny and Luke all but forgotten. Johnny starts to follow, but Luke stops him.

"Don't believe what Kyle says. He likes getting to you, yah know?" Johnny asked. He should know. Kyle practically torture him with the non-stop pranks.

"We need to be sure. I may need back-up" Luke said, his ocean like eyes set and match.

"I'm your man" Johnny offered. As much fun as he knows he would have playing football and getting his clothes ruined. He hasta help Luke. This is his family after all.

"Johnny, Lucas, stop eating those sweets" Ziva ordered leading the boys to the dinner table and applying large helpings of 'healthy food' to their plates.

"Eat this, after you both can have some sweets" Ziva compromised. In her honest opinion she thinks this is very fair. Her father would've whipped her for eating sweets before dinner and then she wouldn't have been allowed lunch at all.

"I don't want it" Johnny whined. A look of annoyance flash through Ziva's eyes, she's starting to wish Johnny would quit his whining and grow up. Then again she doesn't want him to grow up to fast.

Luke 'accidentally' drops his plate in the garbage bin. "Oops my bad" Luke lied; he shouldn't have to listen to her. She isn't his mother. Johnny follows suit. He beams for a few seconds and quickly realizes this is a mistake.

Ziva knows can't do anything about Luke's behavior. She can do something about Johnny's though. Ziva grabs his upper arm and leads him back in line; giving his butt, a hard whack on the way. "Oww, that hurt. Lucas did it too, not just me" Johnny whined trying to rub, but Ziva takes his hands.

"I do not care what Lucas did. You are my son, not him and this behavior is unacceptable, is that understood?" Ziva asked calmly, applying the same healthy foods onto another red plate.

Johnny glares at her; defiant and unwilling. When he doesn't give a verbal answer, Ziva holds the plate in one hand and lands another smack onto his hinny. Johnny, being eleven years old is livid that his mom keeps hitting him in public; smacks the plate out of her hand. Food falls to the ground, everyone in line is staring at them now. That's a big mistake.

Ziva takes a few moments to register this. When she does, she grabs his arm and brings him over to the table. Ziva sits Johnny into her own chair and glares at him. "Your father will talk to you when we get home. For now, you better stay at this table until I return. Is that understood?" she asked evenly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it" Johnny said softly and meaningfully. Ziva pulls a chair in front of him and takes a seat.

"What is bothering you?" she asked. Something must be bothering him, considering he risked getting spanked.

Johnny looks over at Kyle who makes a great catch. "You're gonna spank me when we get home, aren't you?" he whispered.

"Do you think I shouldn't?" Ziva asked; she wants to hear his point of view. Then she has decided to make her decision whether to spank him or not.

"I don't want you to" Johnny said in a barely audible voice. He wouldn't have minded so much if it wasn't for yesterday.

Ziva asked calmly and very coolly, "Then why did you disrespect me?"

"You hit me in front of my friend!" Johnny groaned at her. Ziva winces she remembers being spanked in front of her friends; ooh the shame. She tousles Johnny's hair and sighs.

"I shouldn't have done that" Ziva remarked. "I apologize, but you need to know when I tell you to do something. I expect you do it."

"You're mad" wow he's a real genius hu? He's going to be a brain surgeon no doubt about that.

"That is correct and for you're insolence. I want you to sit here and think about what you have done while I get you a new plate. After lunch instead of a spanking you will not receive dessert, but I do expect for the rest of the day you must behave" a grin seeps onto Johnny's face. He can't believe that his mom is letting him off with a warning.

"You broke a rule mom" Johnny pointed out shaking his head at her. Ziva grins down at him.

"Did I? What rule would that be?" Ziva asked playfully. He's so much like Tony; he acts and looks so much like him. It's adorable.

"Never apologize it's a sign of weakness" Gibbs said from behind. Ziva jumps up; startled and frightened. Julie mischievously head-slaps Gibbs; Abby who was coming over to say 'HI' eyes widen. Tim who was following Abby, Tony who came over to see why Johnny was in trouble and Ziva's eyes all widen with utter shock.


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm sorry for all the grammatical errors. I am only fourteen years old and it was very late when I posted the last chapter. Please just try to take my feelings into consideration when you're reviewing. Although, if you do not like those errors then what is the point of you reading this story and commenting about how you can't believe an eighth grader can make so many errors.**

**Oh and if people don't like reading FICTIONAL stories. Then my only advice for is not to read them! This is pure fiction and could never in a million years happen. I'll make sure Tim is nicer.**

**Chapter 9**

"Did she just…head-slap Gibbs?" Tony is the first to ask. The other three are too stunned to speak. Even Johnny doesn't look brave enough to say another word.

"No…she couldn't have. She …do you think she really did it?" Tim stuttered looking like a ten year old with a lost toy.

"I believe she did" Ziva said softly, she gets up and heads back to the food line. Besides Mike Franks, nobody has ever head-slapped Gibbs before.

If that was anyone else, Gibbs would've given them such a glare that it would have turned them to stone. Or he would have smacked them upside the head so hard they'd have a concussion. Instead Gibbs winked at Julie and turns to look at his agape agents. He tries to hide his smirk, as the others try to recompose themselves.

"No fair. Is she you're favorite now?" Abby whined teasingly. Tim manages a smile Abby gives him a hard look. She didn't say that to make HIM laugh. It slides from his face and falls to the ground with a half-hearted bang.

Gibbs nods. "You bet" he said applying a soft kiss to Julie's flushed pink cheek. She gently pushes him away and rolls her green eyes.

"Gibbs, there're people staring" Julie complained, her flaming red hair causing Gibbs to want to kiss her matching red lips even more.

"Am I supposed to care?" he asked causing Julie to giggle. She feels like such a school girl around this him. Her heart weighs about a million pounds and sometimes she wishes Leroy Jethro Gibbs was out of her life, but for some reason she still loves him.

After a few moments, everyone walks off to find their kids and force feed them. Gibbs manages to 'mistakenly' find Ally near the dessert table and Thalia flirting with a few of his co-workers fifteen year old sons! He firmly grabs the thirteen year old by her arm and leads her over to the line. Luke looks over at Johnny and motions for him to come over. Tony takes a seat in front of his son. Johnny impatiently stares at his father. He just wants to get this over with.

Tony stifles a smile; he's pleased that Luke and Johnny are getting along. Although his son has to stop trying to impress everyone, not everything is a joke. "We have a problem here, don't we?" Tony asked his son. Johnny looks up at his father and shrugs. Mom said they didn't have a problem, but talking with dad can be a totally different story. It is like going from Harry Potter to The Cat in the Hat in seconds. Johnny grins at his own little joke, until he sees his dad's firm look. That wipes the smile right off of his face.

"I said I was sorry" Johnny muttered, why is he getting another lecture?

"You need to learn to respect you're elders" Tony chided gently. He knows Ziva probably gave him a lecture, but he wants to make sure Johnny will learn from his mistakes.

"Luke dropped his plate too" Johnny whined. His innocent army green eyes staring up at his father's.

"I get that. Luke is only our nephew, we don't have the right to discipline him like with you and Kyle" Tony said trying to explain in the best way he can.

"I know…Auntie Abby and Uncle Tim do, but still" Johnny huffed angrily. "Mom didn't even smack him when he dropped his plate and it was on purpose too" Tony shakes his head. Johnny doesn't understand a word he's saying.

* * *

><p>Ziva looks into her purse once again. The + sign is staring right back at her. She immediately shuts her purse when she sees Abby and Julie walking over to her. Julie looks like she's telling a really funny story because Abby is laughing hysterically. Those two are so different with Julie's red hair and Abby's black hair. Their height is another point to consider Abby is tall and Julie is medium. Besides their eye colors, nobody in the world would ever consider those two related. Their happy faces, instantly making Ziva feel guilty. They are her best friends; she should tell them, shouldn't she?<p>

"Hey! Wow you don't look so good" Abby examines her friend from head to toe. Julie follows suit. "Are you okay?" Julie asked with a questionable stare pointed at Ziva.

Ziva plasters a fake smile onto her face. "I am fine" she assured the two of them. Abby and Julie don't look very convinced.

"Spill, did Johnny or Kyle do something?" Ziva shakes her head. "What about Tony? What did he do? If he did something wrong, then I'll get my revenge on him" Abby promised assuringly. She means it to. She'll cook up a substance that'll make him feel constapated for a few days if he did something wrong.

"It wasn't…I mean it isn't him. Well it is, he's apart of it. A big part of it, but" Ziva sighed angrily. She clicked opened her purse. "Look" Julie and Abby stared at one another.

"Ziva, are you sure you're okay?" Julie asked trying to check Ziva's temperature. Ziva pushes her hand away.

"Just check. This is serious" Ziva groaned at them. Both of them lean into the purse and Ziva watches as their eyes become as big as saucers.

"ZIVA THIS IS GREAT…NO THIS ISN'T GREAT. THIS IS AMAZING AND TERRIFIC TOGETHER IN ONE GIANT AMAZERIFIC!" Abby screeched; several people look over at them.

"Oh my God, Ziva you're…" Julie said. Usually when Abby gets this loud Ziva and she try to quiet her down. Abby is like the youngest sister.

"Don't even say it. Don't" Ziva cut her off. She looks around suspiciously; her brown eyes searching for spies of some sort.

"How did Tony react when you told him?" Abby asked excitedly. A guilty look flashes through Ziva's chocolate brown eyes.

"He seems as calm as ever, right now. If I told Gibbs I was pregnant he'd choke on his coffee" Julie pointed out with a joking grin.

"…I didn't tell him…yet" Ziva said quietly. Julie and Abby stare wide eyed at their close friend. This is serious, she has to tell them.

"Ziva" they both scolded.

"I'll tell him. Right now isn't good timing. I'll tell him" Ziva promised. "Both of you promise me you won't tell anyone" Julie chews on her lower lip.

"I guess, but Zi you should tell him" Abby answered sounding reluctant; she may be mad at Tim right now, but nothing in the world would stop her from telling him.

"Julie?" they both turn to the red head who looks hesitant about this.

Ziva doesn't get why Julie is so hesitant. Friends keep secrets for each other that's the way things are. Tony seems really pleased with everything at the moment. Plus it isn't any of his business! It's her body that'll be stretched and pulled apart. That's not even the worst part being pregnant, she won't be allowed in the field for a good ten to eleven months. Maybe even a year, what'll she do until then? Take care of the baby and become a bored housewife. That's a horror Ziva never could imagine. She loves being a mom to two beautiful boys, but it's easier with a pre-teen and teen. They can take care of themselves for a few hours. With a baby! They acquire the constant care that Ziva could never handle. You cannot leave them alone; she might not ever be able to go back to work.

"Okay! I won't tell anyone, but Ziva. Abby's right" Julie gives in knowing this will end extremely badly. For some reason, she decides to keep her mouth shut.

* * *

><p>Back at the table, Tony tries to talk some sense into his son. It's harder than he ever thought it would be "How would you feel if Auntie Abby swatted you? Or what if she spanked you?" Tony asked kindly. The confused and flustered look on Johnny's face makes Tony wonder if he's doing an okay job at being a father.<p>

"I don't know…confused, I guess" Johnny shrugs his shoulders 'what does this have to do with anything?'

"Why would that be?" Tony asked. He already knows the answer to this question, but Tony wants to hear Johnny say it.

"Cause she isn't my mom. She's my aunt" Johnny pointed out. His face all scrunched up and confused.

Tony replied, "That's right; it'd feel confusing and different. Even if they scolded you, that would feel different too right?" Johnny considered this.

"But what if you guys went away? Would they spank me if I did something bad?" Tony thinks for a few moments. He has to be very careful about how he answers this.

"Then and only then would be the only time we'd trust you're aunts and uncles to spank you" he squinted playfully at the child. "But, I'm sure that won't be necessary because if mom and I ever go away. You would NEVER cause trouble, because that'd be taking advantage of them. Am I right?" Tony asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yes sir" Johnny saluted, causing Tony to grin as he tickles his son's belly. Almost instantly the eleven year old starts laughing until his lungs hurt.

Ziva hears Johnny's laughs from the food line and smiles to herself. "Mom…make him stop…tickling me!" Johnny begged wiping his tearful eyes. Ziva sets the plate down and joins in. Hearing Johnny's laugh is worth the anger and annoyance of her new everyday life.

After a few more minutes, both adults allow their son to eat. In between small bites of carrots, Tony clears his throat. "Listen bud, I need you to be on you're best behavior from now on. Today is going to be a very fun day and I don't want you missing out. You get me" Johnny swallowed nodding.

"I'm done eating. Can I go play with Luke?" Johnny asked nervously.

"Yes, be good" Ziva warned clipping the back of his head.

"I'm always good. Just not the good you guys like" Johnny said showing off his adorable smart aleck charms.

"Oh is that the case, hu?" Tony mused landing a playful smack on Johnny's bottom. He smiles at his father and runs off.

* * *

><p>"Did it hurt?" Luke asked sounding serious.<p>

Johnny looks at him funny. "When I got tickled? Nah that was fun" Johnny told him wondering if Lucas has ever been tickled.

"No, when Aunt Ziva spanked you" Luke whispered quietly. The ten year old looks around hoping nobody heard him say that horrible word…spank.

Johnny said. "That was just a few smacks. She coulda hit me lots harder" Thalia and Kyle make their way over to the two of them. Kyle looks sweaty, but he has his arm around Thalia who's grinning devilishly.

"Oh…my mom doesn't spank me" Luke stated proudly; earning confused looks from the other three. That doesn't sound much like their somewhat strict aunt.

"Why?" Johnny asked his eyes wide.

"I don't know. She doesn't like it" Luke answered his face red with embarrassment.

"Wish _both_ my parents didn't like it. They think it's for our own good. Apparently it teaches us to learn from our mistakes" Kyle mimicked Tony's voice. He surprisingly does a great job at it.

"Good thing they only do it when we mess up big-time" Johnny agreed with a playful smile dancing on his lips. He likes hanging out with the older kids. No offence to Ally, but he's glad she isn't here to ruin the fun.

"My aunt doesn't, but…" Thalia said grinning for a few seconds. Her grin turns into a pout. "Gibbs he never hesitates to smack my ass" she doesn't sound that mad.

Thalia's glad she has a father figure in her life, especially one like Gibbs. The man is caring, kind, and funny. He's the poster agent for Superman. It sucks having someone spank you who's not exactly related to you, cos you don't know for sure if he really cares about you. Her aunt Julie doesn't spank cos she doesn't like to. Thalia would never tell anyone this, but she wouldn't mind if her aunt did it every one in awhile. This brings Thalia to another point; she misses her mom. At times, Thalia forgets what her parents look like. That's a sad thing to say, but considering it has been seven years since she last saw them; it's fairly normal. The last time she saw them; she was around Ally's age. Thalia suddenly wishes her birth father were here to spank her. If only he and her mom would stop trying to 'find themselves' and come home.

"Well I hate spankings! They hurt" Luke moaned. His voice brings Thalia back to sweet and bitter reality.

"You got you're first one didn't you? Johnny got one last night for stealing from Sister Kathy's desk. Didn't you, John?" Kyle asked a casual grin forming on his face. Johnny glares at his brother who gives him an apologetic look.

Thalia presses her lips together to keep from smiling. Sometimes Kyle can be really funny and sometimes he can be mean. This is one of those times where she can't tell what side to chose.

"My dad said stealing Sister Kathy's junk was wrong and he was going ta spank me. It hurt way more than I thought it would. After he did; he said that he spanked me cos a warmed up rear helps me learn more from my mistakes than grounding me would and he wants to me to grow up to be a good person in life or some shit like that" Luke said smiling briefly at the memory.

"The first spanking is always the worst" Kyle commented. His remembers his first spanking. The way he cried his eyes out; only the smacks didn't seem that hard. It was initial shock of getting one that got to him. Johnny said it hurt and he wasn't shocked at all. It just hurt.

"Does it get any easier?" Luke asked weakly.

"What do you mean?" Kyle laughed.

"The spankings do they…get easier to take or does it still hurt?" Luke pretends not to notice the eye rolls he gets from the DiNozzo brothers.

"Don't be stupid. It still hurts" Kyle offered with that DiNozzo carefree smirk. "Wanna hear some rules for when you're about to be spanked?"

"There are rules?" Luke tries hard not to laugh, but this is really funny. There are rules for getting spanked!

"Course, there are. We wouldn't be kids if we didn't have rules. We'd be so...messed up if we didn't have our rules of life" Kyle said staring at the ten year old like he was crazy.

"How many rules are there?" Luke said feeling left out.

"Yeah five of em.' Rule 5, self-pity if you pity yourself you're parents will too. Rule 4 apologize quickly so they won't smack as hard. Rule 3 never underestimate you're spanker. Rule 2 never repeat these rules to anyone. The most important rule is Rule 1 never say or anything stupid while being spanked" Kyle informed him thoughtfully.

Johnny winced. Luke looks over at Kyle wondering if he's serious. "Where did you here all these stupid rules?" Luke feels compelled to ask.

"A friend told me some of em.' Don't you call my rules stupid. I wasn't the one who got caught stealing by a blind nun" Kyle said sounding a little angry. Luke shouldn't run his mouth like that, in Kyle and Thalia's opinion. It'll get him beat up if he does.

Johnny boasted. "I supplied the pity rule" Kyle can't help but smile down at his little brother. He's so proud that he added a rule onto their list. Between Kyle and Johnny they have lots of rules. Some apply to spankings, future experiences, and just being loyal brothers in general.

Feeling bored with talking with ten year olds. Since nobody else is talking; it is kind of awkward just standing there staring at the grass. Thalia wanders to go grab something to eat. Kyle follows Thalia to the appetizers table. "Johnny's really lucky" she said smiling at him. Kyle feels his cheeks heat up.

"Why's that?" he asked pretending to be interested in the carrots. He doesn't dare look at Thalia. He worries that if he does, then he'll turn even redder than he already is.

"He has an older brother like you" Thalia looks around quickly and runs a hand through Kyle's waves of blonde hair. At first Kyle jumps out of surprise and quickly he relaxes. A slow grin etches its way onto his face.

Kyle's blue eyes are so beautiful they're Thalia's new favorite color. She can see those questioning eyes of his mentally asking her if it's alright. In return she just nods and closes her green eyes. Therefore Kyle leans in to kiss her. Right when she feels his lips are a few centimeters away from hers. She's pulled back about five feet.

"What the…" she looks around to see Gibbs. His face is so anxious and worried. Thalia would laugh at him, if she wasn't so mad. How dare he pull her away? That's just so rude. He was going to…they were going to kiss.

"GIBBS!" Thalia screeched. Gibbs face turns red with embarrassment. Julie is at her niece's side in seconds.

"What's going on?" Julie asked firmly.

Nobody answers. Thalia's too steamed and Gibbs looks quiet; too quiet, even for him. Julie looks from the thirteen year old to the fifty year old. "I asked you both a question and I expect an answer" Julie said in her best stern momma voice.

"HE" Thalia jerks her hand towards Gibbs angrily. "Pulled me away…when Kyle and I were going to…to…well it doesn't matter now!" Thalia said storming off. Julie doesn't dare stop her. She knows from years of experience that when Thalia is seriously and she means SERIOUSLY angry about something. It's best for everyone to let her cool off.

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs, I cannot believe you did that" Julie chided. Gibbs stares at her with those steely innocent blue eyes. He looks like a guilty ten year old.

"What? I didn't do anything" Gibbs feigns his virtuousness.

"You pulled her away when she was going to get her first kiss. You're in some serious trouble" Julie glared at the man in front of her. Gibbs gulped. Julie might as well be singing two holes into his forehead with those green marbles of hers. He begins to wonder why Julie is so mad at him. She should be delighted that he pulled Thal away when he did.

* * *

><p>Luke announced. "I have a plan." He has taken off his black overcoat. The penguin look only works for actual penguins.<p>

"For?" Johnny asked in between gulps of soda. His mom is usually particular about what kind of soda's he drinks because of the sugar rushes; he gets. It's not like a few Cokes can hurt him.

"My parents! We're going to keep them together" Luke reminded his cousin.

"I've been thinkin bout' that. What if your parents wanna get a divorce? We can't make them love each other. Ain't that their choice?" Johnny wondered.

"We can too" Luke sounds defiant.

"I dunno Luke. It's not like we can lock em' in a basement" Johnny joked nudging Lucas who grins at him.

"That's perfect" Luke exclaimed.

"That was a joke"

"You're a genius. We'll lock them in my basement cos we have a bathroom" Luke said his eyes gleamed with the thoughts.

Johnny's eyes are as wide as saucers. "You can't be serious. There's no way I'm doing that. I'm gonna speak for me butt. And my butt says it isn't in the mood to go one on one with my dad's hand."

"Johnny, please. I don't want them to get a divorce. I like living as a family! Please, Johnny. You're my best friend, please. You're the only one I know who could ever pull this off" that last few lines are what sold Johnny on deciding to help him.

"I'm in, but you can't get scared. Okay?" Truthfully Johnny was scared. He didn't know about Lucas, but he's scared out of his mind.

"I wasn't planning on it" Luke replied his tone scaring Johnny; a little bit.

* * *

><p>Ziva senses Abby is down. She has barely spoken a word since they sat down together to eat. Tony and Tim are off someplace talking about a case. "What is wrong Abby?" Ziva asked mildly concerned.<p>

"Timmy and I are fighting" Abby whimpered.

"Why?"

"Because he spanked Luke last night for the stealing incident" Abby explained making it sound like they stole by accident.

"If it makes you feel any better. Johnny said it was his idea and he got a spanking last night too" Ziva said shaking her head.

"That's different" Abby mumbled.

"How is it so very different?" Ziva wondered her eyebrows knit.

"Johnny responds well to spanking. I'm not sure if Luke did" Abby mused.

Ziva replied, "Tell me everything that happened"

"Well we sent Lucas to his bedroom. Then we started talking about punishments. I thought we could just tell Luke not to do it again or something. Tim said we should spank Luke. I almost spanked Timmy for saying that. I told him that we're never going to do that. Then we argued and he went up to Luke's room and…Zi it broke my heart to hear Lukey cry. Luke and Tim came down ten minutes later and oh my god Ziva! Luke ran up to me, hugged me and started saying he was sorry. I kissed his head and saw Tim standing at the doorway into the kitchen. All awkward with himself! I glared at him and hugged my baby" Abby explained all in one breath.

"That's it" Ziva said trying not to grin. Abby's totally being insane; that sounds like a normal reaction.

"Yeah! That's it! Why?"

"That sounds very normal reaction to me" Ziva admitted.

"What are you talking about?" Abby gasped.

"I think it was the third time Johnny got spanked. After Tony did it. He ran downstairs and hugged me; kept saying he was sorry" Ziva said briefly. She was cooking lasagna and it was cute seeing her little prince run up and hug her like that.

"What did Johnny do?" Abby asked worriedly feeling compelled to ask.

"He stole" Ziva answered simply.

"So he didn't learn from his previous spanking, did he?" Abby asked. "Maybe they wouldn't steal if they weren't afraid of you" Ziva's brown eyes start to through daggers at Abby.

"Johnny and Kyle's friends didn't always get meals. They stole for their friends. For you're information my boys are not afraid of Tony nor I. There's a large difference between respecting your elders and fearing them. You wouldn't see that because Lucas doesn't respect anybody!" Ziva snapped. If you mess with her cubs, Ziva will most defidently become a mother bear.

Abby wants to say Luke respects his elders, but deep down she knows that is a lie. Her bright green eyes look remorsefully down at Ziva's brown eyes that being to soften slightly. "I'm…" Abby started, but Ziva holds up her hand and nods.

"No need. I should not have said that about Lucas. I didn't mean it. I was mad that you said my sons fear me. My entire life I feared my papa and I swore when I had children. I'd be different. Do you think they fear me?" Ziva asked, quickly wiping a tear from her cheek.

Abby smiled warmly at her. "I was wrong too. I shouldn't have even thought that. Kyle and Johnny could never fear you. They love you too much to even think about that"

"Do they? I am only their step-mother. It is not as though I am their real mother" Ziva admitted feeling quite ashamed of herself.

Abby scolded, "Ziva David! They call you mom! They love you as much as any child loves their mother. Step-mom or not, you're more of a mother than they had before"

"Sometimes Johnny even calls me mommy" Ziva boasted quietly. Johnny only says that a few times; when he's really tired or something. Ziva finds it adorable and Tony thinks Johnny shouldn't be babied.

* * *

><p>Gibbs groaned. He can't believe Julie is actually making him do this. He taps Thalia on the shoulder. She looks up at him and glares. "What do you want?" Thalia asked sourly. Gibbs sets his teeth on edge.<p>

She better lose that attitude. He thinks. "I want to talk to you" Gibbs replied, making it sound more like a demand than a question.

"I don't wanna talk to you" Thalia grumped. Gibbs has never had a little sister before or even raised a teenager before. This is very new to him.

"You don't have to talk. All you have to do is, sit there and listen" Gibbs ordered taking a seat beside her. Thalia scooches her chair away.

"Listen little miss. I know you're mad at me. I get that. I just want you to know. That for once I'm going to break a rule and say I'm sorry. I mean it, honey. I shouldn't have made you change your clothes more than two times. That was stupid of me" Gibbs said kindly. His tone almost soothing. Thalia can't supress the smile that breaks onto her face.

"It's not fair! I hate bein a kid. I wanna grow up and be an adult. You get to drive and have money to shop and get to kiss people" Thalia admitted. Her face red with anger.

Gibbs said, "I worry about you. Thalia I get that you're becoming...a wom...a young lady and you want to explore, but try to understand. You're like a daughter to me. I care so much about you and don't want you to get hurt in life. That sounds silly to you, but trust me sweetheart you'll regret wanting to grow up too fast. Just enjoy life being a kid for as long as you can. Okay sweetheart?"

"You're really good at these heart-to-heart. Father/Daughter moments aren't you?" Thalia joked with a twinkle forming in her eyes.

"What can I say? I've had a lot of practice" Thalia giggles. "As for the kissing. I'll allow it, so long as you promise not to do anything more than kissing" Gibbs said making a fair compromise.

"I won't as long as you don't spy on me anymore or be so protective" Thalia said evenly.

Gibbs pulls her into a hug. "I won't spy on you anymore" he promised into her ear. Thalia relaxes for a few seconds, but remembers he didn't agree to the second part. "I can't do anything about being protective, once your apart of my family. Your stuck with me and my protectivness. Hope you don't mind" Gibbs added. Thalia rolls her eyes. She doesn't mind at all.

* * *

><p>Tim sighed. He still can't believe Abby's still mad at him. He reacted the same way when he got his first spanking. Only he was six years old and Luke is ten, but the circumstances are different. "Hey McDreamy, wake up. I've been trying to tell you about Ziva and my trip to Paris in two months and you've been a space cadet" Tony complained.<p>

"Sorry Tony, Abby and I are fighting" Tim quipped.

Tony lightly slaps the back of Tim's head. "Never apologize; sign of weakness. Why are you and Abs fighting?" he wondered.

"I spanked Luke last night"

"That it?" Tim nodded ruefully. "Probie, next time you and Abs fight. Make sure you do something that's worth it, deal?" Tony joked.

"Tony, I really messed up. Abby told me not to spank Luke and I did. It's what my own father would've done. Only a lot harder and more smacks" Tim added hastily.

"How many smacks were there?"

"Eight…I hated it. I can't stand to hear Luke cry; he lied, tried to shift all the blame onto Johnny, and mouthed off. On top of all that he stole. I couldn't just do what Abby thought was discipline and tell him 'not to do it again' did I do the right thing?" Tim asked quietly. He stares at Tony who's always been like an older brother to him.

"He's not just Abby's son, Probie" Tony informed the younger agent who slowly nods, but still feels like shit.

"I know, but I feel like she hates me and we'll never be the same. We used to have such a great love life…" Tim stated, but Tony instantly blocks his ears at the words 'love' and 'live.'

"BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. Don't talk to me about this. Talk to Abby! I beg of you. Talk to her about this disgusting sex life of yours! She's your wife not me" Tony whined.

Tim doesn't move a muscle, which starts to irk Tony. "I hated it Tony. I hated spanking him, but I did it anyway. Does that make sense?" Tim asked sadly.

"Yeah, you want them to grow up respecting their elders and knowing right from wrong. Being a parent is a hard job, Probie. I hate hearing Johnny and Kyle cry. Every time I do it. I hope they'll just smarten up and start following the rules, but then…" Tony stopped himself, right at the good part.

"Then what?" Tim asked looking more nervous than the first time he met Gibbs.

Tony smirked at his little brother. "They wouldn't be kids, if they followed our rules. After all they do have rules of their own to follow."


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you to everyone who said a kid like me could right. Thanks. I hope you keep reading. Oh there is some minor spanking in this chapter. **

**Chapter 10**

Gibbs tried his best to keep his word with Thalia, but every time she starts walking off with one of the boys. Gibbs has her followed by one of the Probie agents. Technically he isn't disobeying Julie's orders. It isn't that Gibbs doesn't trust Thalia. He just doesn't trust the crappy jerks she's hangs out with. Only there's one slight problem; Thalia isn't stupid. She knows when she's being followed, especially when the Probie's slip and break a wine glass on the job. Thalia pretends to act all upset over this, but she is sort of glad Gibbs had her followed. It shows Thalia that in Gibbs own protective and gruff way, he cares. The entire evening Gibbs made sure he had Thalia close by. It is a good thing that Julie is busy trying to control Ally. The six year old keeps on complaining about not being able to hang out with Thalia anymore.

* * *

><p>Abby and Tim discussed things and decided that from now on: for serious offences; like stealing, lying, fighting, or disrespect. Luke will get a spanking, but not for small ones like throwing a temper tantrum or something of that sort. He'll get sent to the corner for a time-out. So he'll be able to breathe and think about why he's in the corner in the first place. They talked it over with Luke. He's happy his parents are not getting a divorce, but sort of bummed that his mom agrees with the dreaded thought of…spanking. He told Johnny right before he left. Johnny didn't seem to mind because he didn't really wanna lock his Aunt and Uncle in the closet or basement. He only agreed because he's a good friend.<p>

* * *

><p>The DiNozzo's had to leave early. Senior's flight came in a little earlier than they expected. It's been decided that instead of going out to lunch. Senior would meet at their house with his little friend. Senior even said he and his friend would spend the night in the guest bedroom. Johnny is more than bummed out, because he and Luke were planning on water ballooning Vance during his big speech. Kyle even said he'd join them. It's probably a good thing the DiNozzo clan left early. Or else the DiNozzo boys would be in some pain when they first met their grandfather.<p>

Johnny bounds down the stairs. He watches as his father opens the door to find a man with snow white hair wearing a black suit and a silky black tie to match. Tony half smiles when he sees him. It has been awhile since the whole accused of murder incident. Kyle is standing behind his little brother. Both boys aren't very sure how to handle this. They've only ever had a Grandmother, not a Grandpa.

"Dad" Tony let those words escape from his lips. Senior smiled wistfully at his son. He looks at Johnny and smiles. This child looks like the spitting image of what his Tony looked like when he was around ten years old. The older man suddenly wishes he was there for his son. After his mother passed he just couldn't deal with the fact that Tony was a lot like her. He was younger then and stupid. Tony still to this day, reminds him of his dear mother Rebecca.

"Who are these handsome young men?" Senior asked slyly. A slow grin appearing onto his face. He'd never had a great relationship with his son. Maybe he'd have a better one with his grandsons.

Kyle is amused. "Kyle pleased ta meetcha. It only took fourteen years, but hey who gives a damn. I have two words for you Gramps…dirt bike" Ziva eyes widen at his disrespectful tone of voice. Now Senior knows for certain that is his grandson. He's sarcastic, handsome, and cocky. Yeah he's a DiNozzo for sure.

"Kyle DiNozzo, two things. Watch you're language and show respect for your Grandpa" Tony warned, smacking his sons jean clad bottom. Kyle looks up at his dad. What? He was only joking around it isn't like Mr. Senior DiNozzo will actually get him one. This isn't fair anyway. He always gets shouted at just because he's older.

"I'll have to look into that" Senior mused with a hearty smile.

"I'm Johnny, I'm eleven. I'm gonna be twelve soon in eight months. You missed out on a lot of birthdays so…you owe me" Johnny said wanting to sound very much like his older brother.

"Johnny" Tony smiles at him. Johnny flashes his signature smile. While Kyle rubs the sting out of his ass. Ziva ruffles her oldest son's blonde curls. Kyle looks at her like a betrayed puppy dog. She feels bad about the smack Tony gave him, but he deserved it. Kyle is older and should know that whatever he does, its most likely Johnny will do the same thing. That's why Johnny doesn't get smacked as much as his older brother. The way Tony and Ziva see it: if Kyle hadn't done it in the first place. Johnny wouldn't have done it at all.

"It's quite alright son. The boys are right. I do owe him; we'll have to talk more about those gifts later" Senior said noticing big grins on the childrens faces. Grandparents are meant to spoil their children anyway.

"Where is your friend?" Ziva asked studying the somewhat anxious DiNozzo man before her. She smiles at the three generations of DiNozzo men: first Senior, then Tony, and lastly Kyle and Johnny. Possibly more, Ziva touches her belly. She hopes that if she does decide to have the baby. Then it will be a girl. A girl named…well names aren't important at the moment. There's just to much men around the house and it gets quite lonely sometimes.

"She's…I have…err a surprise for you" Senior said a very guilty grin forming on his slightly tanned face. A grin Ziva has seen on her husband and sons.

"…I'm hungry. So is Ronnie. We're both hungry" a voice whispered. The voice is not, coming from neither Kyle nor Johnny. It sounds like the voice of a small child. Ziva squints at her sons wondering if they're playing some sort of practical joke.

"Sammie, sweetheart. I told you to be quiet. So I could introduce you properly" Senior said in a hushed tone. The little girl looks up at him with fake innocence. Senior sighs at this display. "Come here. I am inclined to introduce you to my son, Anthony" Tony's mouth falls open at the sight before him.

A little girl around five or six comes out from behind the bushes. Sammie isn't used to being told what to do. She only listens to people, when they give her something in return. Sammie doesn't come very close, but close enough for everyone to get a good look at her. She's simply adorable with long blonde colored hair that reaches her waist and blue eyes to match. Ziva takes note on how badly she needs a haircut. Although she is the most adorable thing about her is her dress. She's wearing a white dress that makes her look like a mini Cinderella. If only she wasn't wearing bright pink rain boots. Then she'd look the part all the way. Ziva almost instantly looks at Senior with shocked eyes. Whose child is this?

"Darling, come closer" Senior said kindly. Sammie glares at him. He said they were going to Disney Land. Not boring old D.C. He also said that he'd buy her another dolly and he hasn't bought her one yet. Well he bought her the dress, but that doesn't count.

"No! I wanna go to Disney. You promised" Sammie lied. He didn't actually say that. He said that maybe they'd go together someday. Sammie figures that if he said someday, that basically someday is today. Not someday later on in life.

"Sammie, darling. You know, I didn't promise you that" Senior said trying to smooth out her blonde hair.

"You did too. You said it on the plane. You did!" Sammie pushes his hand away. She can't believe that he's being so mean to her. This isn't fair at all.

"Honey, I got you the princess dress instead of Disney. Come on, darling" Sammie shakes her little head. "If you be a good girl. I'll buy you a new princess dress, alright darling" Tony frowns at this. You never bribe a child like that. It only teaches them bad behavior, but Sammie isn't his kid. He guesses its his dad's job to teach Samantha to behave herself.

Sammie pokes out her tongue. "Fine" she said defiantly. The little girl comes forward with her arms crossed. Tony smiles at her. She's just so cute you can't help, but be entranced by her cuteness.

"Sammie meet Anthony, my son. Anthony, meet Sammie Gabriella Bryant. Sammie can you tell him how old you are?" Senior asked with a careful smile. Sammie holds up six fingers with anger in her eyes. She wants the dress this minute. Not later on! She also wants to go to Disney Land.

Tony doesn't even notice the little girl glaring at him. He rubs his eyes over and over again wondering if he's asleep. Ziva pinches her husband's forearm causing him to look at her with confused green eyes. Sammie looks over at Ziva and realizes that she's very pretty. The little girl looks Ziva up and down. Ziva smiles at her. In return Sammie sticks out her tongue. Johnny starts laughing. No one ever does that to his mom without getting a semi-warning look. Instead Ziva chuckles at her.

"How did you...Dad is she your..." Tony can't seem to find the right words to speak. Kyle fixes his blue eyes on his grandfather and cracks his award winning smile.

"Who'd you knock up, Gramps?" Kyle laughed. Johnny looks over wondering what Kyle means by that. How can you knock someone up? Oh wait. Kyle told him what it means a few months ago. Gross. Tony glares at his eldest son, wondering what the hell has gotten into him. He grabs Kyle by the waist and tucks him under his arm. Kyle winces already knowing what's coming next.

"Don't, dad. It was just a joke" Kyle pleaded, pretending to sound self-pitiful.

Tony doesn't buy his suddenly remorseful act one bit. He lands five hard sounding smacks to the smart guy's bottom. "Oww. sorry. sorry" Tony looks around to see almost everyone staring everywhere else, but at him. Sammie is the only one staring at him with widened blue eyes she grips onto Senior's hand tightly, hoping she doesn't get hit too. Senior is a bit surprised himself. He never thought Anthony would spank his kids. He feels bad for his oldest grandson, but he had to admit what he said did cross the line.

"You don't need to apologize to me" Tony said, Kyle looks up at him with confused blue eyes. Tony nods his head towards Senior.

"Oh right. I'm sorry Mr. DiNozzo? Sir?" Kyle asked searching for a good name for his new grandfather. Sammie looks at Kyle with admiration. He must be really cool cause he doesn't even look like he cared about getting hit. Instead he is still making jokes.

"Grampa will do, Kyle...and Johnny" Senior said showing a carefree smile. Kyle grins back until he sees his dad glaring at him. He doesn't even notice that tears are still rolling down his cheeks.

Tony whispered, into his son's ear. "Listen kiddo, your older and I expect more of you. You need to show an example for your brother. Try to behave, okay?" Kyle nods his head furiously. The tears are to his undoing, Tony smacked really hard this time.

"It was…a joke. Can't you take a joke?" Kyle mumbled angrily, rubbing the sting out of his bottom. Tony decides not to answer that question, for he doesn't have a good parental answer for him. Instead he runs a hand through Kyle's blonde hair, letting him know that he forgives him. Kyle goes upstairs. He wants to wash up. He doesn't wanna look like a cry baby in front of a five year old.

Senior stares down at the yawning Sammie. "Hey darling, do you need to take a nap?" Senior asked, his tone as sweet as sugar.

"I'll take a nap in Disney Land" Sammie commented dryly.

"Sammie, we have a guest bedroom with a very nice bed. You can have a rest on it" Tony offered to the tired six year old who shrugs her shoulders.

"It's your choice, darling" Sammie heads into the guest bedroom: yawning uncontrollably. Senior follows the young child. He helps take her boots off and tucks her into bed.

"Goodnight, darling" he kisses the top of her head and smiles warmly at her. Tony feels a twinge of jealously the only time his dad ever did that was when he was eight or so.

* * *

><p>Johnny follows him up the stairs and into Kyle's bedroom. "You okay, Kyle? Dad smacked you real hard" Johnny asked. Kyle looks over at him. His face returning to its natural color. He can't believe dad didn't even warn Johnny.<p>

"I'm fine" Kyle mumbled.

"Are you sure? Cos if dad smacked me that hard…" Johnny cringes and shakes his head.

"Quit, copying me all the time" Kyle blurted out. Johnny looks taken aback by this.

"What? I don't copy you" Johnny said, his face turning red.

"Oh yeah, member when we went shoe shopping and I got blue sneakers. You got the same pair" Johnny doesn't know what to say. Kyle does have a point, but every time Kyle does something. It just seems really cool and he wants to do it to.

"Nu-uh. Mine are smaller" Johnny joked. Kyle glares at him why does he always think everything is a joke? Someday he has to learn that not everything is a joke.

"Shut up. I hate it when you copy me all the time. Get a life, willya and leave me the hell alone" Kyle hardly ever snapped at his little brother like that. Its times like these that Kyle knows he'll feel like shit later.

Johnny starts to cry. "I don't…copy you" he repeated with crocodile tears dribbling down his baby face.

"You do too, you big baby" Kyle said roughly pushing his brother to the ground. Johnny looks up at his brother with betrayal streaming through his large army green eyes. Kyle looks away. The older boy doesn't even notice that Johnny has already run out of the room. He's probably going to get dad. Kyle winces. Now his ass is surely going to be on fire. Great, just great. Johnny has landed him in hot water yet again. When Tony sees that his youngest little boy is crying. He'll march upstairs and give Kyle a spanking for sure. The word spanking makes Kyle wince all on its own.

Johnny doesn't get his dad. He knows that if he does, Kyle will get it worse. Even if Kyle called him mean names and pushed him down. Johnny really doesn't want his big brother to get a spanking. He quickly checks the living room; to see his dad and…well Grampa as he said to call him all sitting there. Sammie is in the guest bedroom: snoozing because they traveled all the way from Spain. That must've been awesome. Seeing Spain and going to hotels and stuff. Johnny has to stay focused. He runs into the kitchen to see mom making lunch.

Ziva smiles when she sees him, but the smile drops when she sees he's crying. He runs to her and gives her a hug. "What has happened, little one?" she asked setting down the knife and wrapping her arms around him.

"K-Kyle called me mean names and pushed me" Johnny cried, feeling like what Kyle called him 'a big baby'. He doesn't care though, it really hurt him when Kyle pushed him to the ground like that and it hurt to hit the ground too.

Ziva very gently wipes the tears from his cheeks. "We will have a talk with your brother, yes?" she whispered waiting until Johnny nods to start up the stairs. This is really getting old, their arguing and fighting over probably nothing. It still is annoying, but siblings fight. Ziva learned that when Ari almost pushed her, off a roof when he was thirteen and she was ten. Papa really let him have it; he whipped him with a switch. Then he whipped her for letting him get that far in a fight.

She knocks on his door. "What do you want?" Kyle barked. A fury burns through Ziva's core. There's no way she will allow her son to speak like that.

"Kyle, open this door right now" Ziva ordered icily.

Kyle swallowed hard. He thought it was Johnny. He really sorta did. Anyway, Ziva would never spank him. She only smacks the occasional smack. "No way" Ziva hears him lock the door.

Johnny's sure if Ziva could she'd burn the door down with her brown eyes. The door doesn't burn door. Instead Ziva picks the lock and opens the door to find Kyle halfway climbing out the window. He knew Ziva was going to do that, which is exactly why he planned his escape.

Ziva has him by the ear in minutes. "What were you doing?" she hissed. Kyle shrugs, but obviously mom doesn't like that answer because she smacks his already sore bottom.

"That really hurt" Kyle said, going for the pity vote. Ziva resists the urge to roll her eyes at him. Sometimes Kyle can be a real pain in the ass.

"It was supposed to, now answer my question" Ziva ordered very firmly. Johnny has a feeling if Kyle keeps on mouthing off he's gonna get spanked.

"I was just going for a walk" Kyle lied. He was really going to Mattie's or Thalia's. Well maybe Mattie's, because Gibbs would bring him back in a heartbeat.

"You didn't use the front door" Ziva pointed out, causing Kyle to wince.

"I didn't wanna disturb dad or Grampa" Kyle thinks fast. "Or Sammie, she's sleeping and I didn't wanna wake her up" Ziva rolls her eyes, knowing full well that he's lying.

Ziva asked with raised eyebrows, "So you thought, going out through you're window was wise?"

"Yeah, but when you came in when yah did. I thought it was unwise" Kyle lied, he doesn't know why he keeps lying. Maybe mom will believe him after awhile, but the look she's giving him makes Kyle think overthwise.

"Why is that?"

Kyle shrugged. Ziva gives him a look. "Because you don't like it when we do something dangerous"

"Explain to me how climbing out your window is dangerous"

"Why? You already know" Kyle answered, in return he receives a hard smack to his bottom. Kyle tries to shove his mom away from him, but that only increases Ziva swatting mode. She lands three more to his sit spots. "Quit, hitting me…I'll tell you. I will! Cos I coulda fall and broke something"

"Thank you, now let's discuss why I came up here" Ziva answered her eyes burning two holes in his forhead. "Why did you push your brother?"

"I didn't" Kyle lied.

"Don't you dare, lie to me" Ziva ordered, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. Kyle doesn't know what to say. He feels bad for makng Johnny cry.

"Fine I did, but he was annoying me"

"You do not push someone just because they were bothering you" Kyle nodded, not sure he likes where this is going. "I want you to apologize to your brother" Ziva ordered sternly.

"We all want things, but most of the time we don't get what we want" Kyle replied as cocky as ever.

A hard smack seems to change Kyle's mind. "I'm sorry" Kyle muttered, not really meaning it at all. Ziva's one hundred percent sure that he only said he was sorry because of said smack. Johnny nods and runs downstairs; deciding that maybe Cody will want to play today.

"I believe your dad said if you mouthed off anymore today. You would get a spanking" she studies as his blue eyes widen and he steps back. Ziva can see he's also trying to think of how he will manage talking his way out of this one. Kyle squints and starts pondering on a good phrase to say. His mom is the easier of the two, so she'll probably let him off with a simple warning.

"Please, don't spank me. I'll be good. I promise" Kyle pleaded with fake tears running down his cheeks. Whenever Ziva gets ready to punish the boys, they always start crying and pulling it out so mom will go rasier on them.

"Stop your fake crying and come with me" Ziva ordered walking out of his bedroom and downstairs.

"I'll be good. I won't fight with John anymore. Don't spank me" Kyle follows her into the kitchen, where she hands him two pieces of paper and a sharpened pencil.

"I am not going to spank you" Kyle lets out a sigh of relief. "You will write on one piece of paper 'I will not lie' with your left hand and on the other 'I will not bully my brother' using your right hand" Ziva said kindly. Kyle tries to sit down, but leaps up. Those smacks he got aren't helpng with the prospect of sitting.

"Can I do it standing up?" Kyle asked. He doesn't dare ask why he has to use different hands while writing.

Ziva has to press her lips together to keep from smiling. "No, it might just remind you to behave" Kyle looks at her with pleading blue eyes.

"Can I have a pillow?" Kyle whispered sadly. Ziva looks at him for a long time, before nodding.

"Yes, but be sure you write in your best penmanship. Do we have an agreement?" Ziva asked trying her best to sound firm with him, but he's so much like Tony.

"Sure" Kyle promised. "Have I told you lately how much of an awesome mom you are? Cos your the greatest mom in the entire word" Ziva wants to roll her eyes at him, but she can't.

"Just go get your pillow, my older one" Ziva smiles at him. Kyle runs upstairs and does something smart. He shoves another pillow in his pilllocase; so that makes two pillows in one pillowcase.

Sitting down on top of the pillow. Kyle smiles brightly at his mom. She has to be the best mom in the entire world. There's no way dad would have let him have a pillow to sit on during punishment. "Start writing, I expect only the best" Ziva joked, handing him a ham and cheese sandwich. Kyle takes a big bite, before starting. Ziva goes into the living room. They need to talk things over about Sammie.

* * *

><p>Ziva takes a seat beside Tony. "Who is she, Dad?" Tony asked seriously. Senior blinks, why does his boy have to be so bladent about everything? Ziva looks Senior right in the eye. She wonders if Tony will look like him when he is older.<p>

"Samantha, is my half-brother Henry's grandchild. You see son. My father cheated on my mother with Laurie Bryant I was sixteen at the time. She concieved a son, Henry Anthony Bryant. My father told me about him on his death bed. I met him six years ago. He did well for himself; started a nice business, became a millionaire. He had a family too, his wife died. He said that his daughter got pregnant and gave him the baby, Samantha Gabriella Bryant. His daughter signed away her legal rights and ran away with her low-life druggie boyfriend. Henry disowned her" Senior swallowed. "Last year, Henry wrote me and said he was very ill that he had no one to take care of Sammie. I wrote him saying I'd do it, but I didn't think he'd die so soon. Three months ago I recieved note that Henry died and he wrote me down as Sammie's guardian" Senior explained shaking his head and running a hand over his head. He cannot believe this is happening. It still feels as though he just got Sammie yesterday, but it's been almost four months.

"Dad..." Tony started, but Senior cuts him off.

"I couldn't give her up. She is related to me...and you Junior. Sammie has never known parents. All she has ever had were grandparents. Henry was her grandpop and I guess I'm her grampa. I need a favor. It may sound drastic and you'll probably hate me for even asking you this, but it's important" Senior replied feeling weak against everyone.

"What's the favor?" Ziva asked supiciously. She moves a strand of curly brown hair out of her brown eyes and tucks it behind her ear.

"I need you to take Sammie" Tony groaned at his father. It isn't that he dislikes Sammie. He's mad at his father for giving up on yet another child. He could be scarring the little girl for all he knows. "Don't give me that look, son. I can't take care of a child and you damn well know it"

"Anyone capable can take care of a child. It isn't that hard" Ziva explained. Senior gives her a dirty look. It is the first time Ziva has ever seen him mad at her.

"I haven't been a parent since well since the 1970's. Even then I wasn't even a good parent. I'm lucky Junior turned out the way he did. Sammie, she deserves real parents who'll teach her right from wrong. I can't do that. You know I can't. My work consists of me being places at very difficult hours of the day. I could be in Europe at three in the morning and fly to Switerzald for dinner with clients. That isn't right of me to rob Sammie's childhood, like that. She needs a real childhood with friends, a house...a family" Senior said quietly. It isn't easy for him to admit these things.

"Dad, we don't even know her" Tony stated.

"She has nobody else in the world! Dammit Junior, don't do this for me. Do this for Samantha. Please, just do it for her. I won't be long maybe six or eight months. When I return and you still mind her living with you. I'll take her, but if you don't. You can have her"

"She isn't a puppy, Dad" Tony snapped at his father. "You can't just give her away and take her back when you want to" Senior has to admit. His son is right. He should have worded that better.

"Listen Junior, Ziva, I've decided that tonight I will leave. It'll make things easier on Sammie. The reason I'm doing this is the same reason I took away your inheritance. I love you. You may think I don't, but I do. I'm proud of who you've become and you're family. You're a better father than I'll ever be. I'm proud of you, Junior" Senior said with an amused grin. "Don't let that go to your head though. You still should've gone in the family business, but you've done well for yourself."

"Alright Sammie can stay here, but you're the one who'll have to tell her" Tony replied while Ziva nods in full agreement. Senior puts on a satisfied smile.

* * *

><p>Kyle finally finishes his lines. Ziva picked the perfect punishment. His right and left hand are cramping and hurt. This cannot be fair at all. With his hands hurting so much. He'll have to ice them and make them numb or something. Johnny is munching on a sandwich and staring at the clock. "Hey J, I'm sorry I pushed you. I was just mad is all" Kyle apologized and he actually means it this time. He was mad that he got smacked and Johnny didn't.<p>

"Why would you be mad at me? I didn't do anything to you" Johnny asked, Kyle stares at him like he's stupid or something.

"Mom and Dad hardly ever smack you after you copy me" Kyle pointed out. Johnny thinks back and has to agree. Whenever he copies Kyle. They shout at Kyle instead of him. Maybe he should copy him, more often.

"I don't mean to copy you. I just think what you did was awesome and I wanna be just like you" Johnny said taking a very long sip from his chocolate milk.

Kyle thinks back to when he was drinking and almost got caught by the cops. "No you don't, J. You don't" he smiles warmly at his brother. Getting up Kyle heads into the living room. Johnny follows. Kyle can't help, but shake his head and grin at him. Little brothers will never change. They're annoying, but sometimes they can be cool.

They both freeze when they hear their father say, "Alright Sammie can stay here..." Kyle turns on his heels and walks out the front door. Johnny stays frozen in the exact spot he's in. He jumps a little, when Kyle slams the door shut.


	11. Chapter 11

Tony gets up at the sound of the door slamming. He sees Johnny quietly crying and Sammie opening the door to the guest bedroom with a scowl on her face. The agent's face becomes soft as he looks at his youngest son. The poor kid doesn't meet his father's identical green eyes. "Hey John, what's wrong buddy?" Tony asked cupping his son's chin so they have eye contact.

"Come on, buddy. You can always tell me" Tony said kindly. Johny doesn't want to tell on his brother, but

"He left, Dad….he left" Johnny wraps his arms around his dad and wipes his nose on Tony's white shirt. For this part Tony grimaces; he likes that Johnny chooses to stay young for as long as possibly, but sometimes he does things that are gross. Wiping his snot of Tony's shirt for instance and not showering for two days.

"Who left, sport?" Tony asked his tone causing more tears. Johnny doesn't want to rat out his brother, but technically Kyle didn't do anything wrong. Besides leaving without telling anyone and slamming the door, Kyle didn't really do anything bad. He just left because he was angry is all.

"Kyle. He just ran off cos we overheard you guys say Sammie gonna stay" Johnny whispered into his dad's ear.

"You were eavesdropping, little one?" Ziva said making it sound more like a statement than a question. Johnny rubs his watery eyes and manages a pitiful nod. Ziva shakes her head at him disappointed; she looks past her husband and sees Sammie studying their every move. Feeling sorry for her youngest son, Ziva reaches over and smoothes out his once again untamed brown mane.

Sammie has been flying since breakfast yesterday and is very tired. Instead of shouting at everyone for waking her up, Sammie saunters back into the guest bedroom and slams the door. That makes two doors slammed in one day. Tony looks over at his father who shrugs his shoulders and puts on an apologetic smile.

"What happened, Junior?" Senior asked the same sad smile still on his face. He runs a hand through his snowy white hair and sighs. Sometimes…well most of the time Samantha can be a handful.

"Kyle ran off…Dad, could you watch Johnny?" Senior nods. "We'll be right back. You ready, my love?" Tony asked tossing Ziva for once he doesn't mind her driving. With Ziva driving there may be a chance that they'll be able to find Kyle sooner.

"Yes, let's collect our son" Ziva replied putting on her brown jacket. They both leave the house in search of their confused teenage son.

Kyle doesn't know why or where he's running. All he knows is that if he stops running then he'll be out of breath and his parents will catch him and most likely kill him. He just remembers that his dad said 'they were going to take Sammie in' and for some reason Kyle snapped. Tears are rolling down his cheeks as are little beads of sweat that make their way down the side of his cheeks. Feeling his lungs start to burn. Kyle stops running and tries to catch his breath. He starts panting and kneels over. Checking his phone Kyle realizes he's been running for thirty minutes.

Sitting down on the side of the curb, Kyle cries softly into his hands. He doesn't know why he's crying, but sometimes when Kyle starts crying. He just can't seem to stop. He hasn't cried like this since he found out about his birth mom and step-dad dying. A car jerks to a stop at his feet. The fourteen year old stumbles to his feet and staggers backwards.

Kyle's vision is blurred with tears. He sees two figures in front of him. They start to come closer: worried that they're going to kidnap him. "G-go…a-a-a-away. I-I…have a k-k-knife" Kyle stammered, watery tears rolling down his cheeks. He takes out a pocket knife he found in Ziva's stash and flimsily points it at the pair.

"Tony is that my knife? He has my knife" Ziva whispered loudly. That's the knife her Ima gave her when she was thirteen years old. It is simply beautiful knife and Ziva will probably give it to Kyle someday, but now that she has found out he has stolen it from her possession. There's no way in hell. He defidently is not mature enough for a knife, since he didn't both asking for it. Ziva is already determining a good year for him to receive the knife, maybe when he turns sixteen or seventeen.

"Kyle, put the knife down" Tony ordered softly. More tears roll down Kyle's somber cheeks as he starts to tremble uncontrollably. Tony honestly never thought he'd see the day when his own child, point a knife at him.

"D-Dad?" Kyle asked weakly. Tony smiles warmly at his broken child. The teen wipes his watery eyes on his sleeve.

Tony said, "Yeah son, it's me and mom" Kyle starts to cry some more. The teen wonders why his dad is even being nice to him in the first place.

"Mom, I stole your knife" Kyle said knowing he might as well confess. He starts to shove the knife into his back pocket, but he sees her staring at him with a perplexed frown.

"I know Kyle. I know" Ziva replied holding out her hand. "My older one, give me the knife"

For once Kyle doesn't put up much of a fight. The minute he drops the knife into her possession and Ziva shoves the object into her pocket. Tony grabs Kyle by the shoulders and gives him a gentle shake. "What were you thinking? You don't run off and you defidently don't steal. You get me?" Tony stated in a no nonsense tone.

"I got you" Kyle sniffled.

"Good" Tony sighed. In Tony's opinion he thinks Kyle is growing up way to fast. Some days the poor guy wants to be a little kid. Other days he wants to be an adult. "What's bothering you?"

"You're gonna let Sammie live with us. I-I…John and I over-heard you" Kyle replied wiping his nose with his sleeve. It's an act that he knows mom finds disgusting, but he does it anyway.

"You should not eavesdrop, that is correct Sammie will be staying with us, but I don't understand how you feel affected by this" Ziva replied, Kyle studies the ground.

"I'm not mad bout' Sammie stayin, I just I never had a Grampa before…I didn't think he'd…" Kyle gives his father a sour look, making the fourteen year old resemble a nine year old. "You don't understand" Kyle stomped his right foot.

"Help us to" his mom said giving him a soft smile.

"You weren't…I mean I didn't know that was the reason Mr. DiNozzo. I mean Grampa came to 'meet' us" Kyle puts air quotations around 'meet' and rolls his eyes at us.

"What reason?" Tony inquired. Kyle doesn't say anything for a moment. He wasn't excepting his dad to be so…so nice to him. He ran off and stole his mom's knife. Shouldn't he be dangling over his father's knee and getting his butt spanked? Kyle doesn't voice that concern. He is a kid after all.

"He doesn't care bout' me or Johnny. He just wanted to get rid of some little kid. He just pretends to care" Kyle scoffed. Ziva shakes her head at him. Senior DiNozzo is a very deceitful man, but he has a heart too.

"Kyle, listen to me. My father is a very complicated man" Kyle laughs at him, earning a warning glance from his mother. "You don't know him like I do, son. His emotions are much like yours: hidden and locked up. There is one thing I am sure about. He loves you and Johnny very much, but sometimes he loses track of what's important when business gets involved" Tony said running a hand through his son's blonde curls.

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked unsurely. He suddenly feels a pang of guilt for running off like he did. He shouldn't have done that. It was stupid and wrong. Maybe he should've talked to his parents, before he ran off.

"My father never really saw the importance in spending time with his family. That's why to this day we don't have a great relationship, but I still love and care about him and he feels the same way for me. You see my father and I didn't talk about our problems with each other. Now, I want you to start talking about your problem and we'll listen without any judgment" Tony prompted. The teen can tell by his dad's tone that he is telling the truth.

"You guys are way harder on me than Johnny" Ziva frowned at him. That is why he ran off because he thinks they are harder on him than his little brother. Kyle's cheeks flush realizing that what he's saying is sort of stupid for a kid his age.

"We're only harder on you because you're older and closer to adulthood. Your father and I know we expect a lot of you, but we also know you can handle it" Ziva stated sounding very much like her own mother. She winces, remembering all those years she felt slightly jealous of her mother and little sister's close relationship.

"That isn't fair" Kyle complained. Tony doesn't know what to say. He's never had any younger siblings. Therefore he doesn't know the problems younger siblings produce.

"Johnny will learn as he grows up. He'll get harder punishments because as he nears becoming an adult. Punishments must become a little harder than they did before so they can stick better in ones mind. Do you understand?" Ziva asked, Tony sighed in relief. He wouldn't know what to say if someone gave him a million dollars.

"But, with Sammie staying. I'll hafta do more. I can barely handle Johnny. I won't be able to handle Sammie" Kyle complained adding an eye roll and a groan.

"You aren't meant to 'handle' Johnny we are. Same will go for Sammie. I know we've been distracted with a cold case, but that only comes once in awhile" Ziva pointed out. Kyle didn't handle Johnny the way his parents did. He'd never spank his brother. All he does is shout at him a little, if he's being overly cocky.

"Kyle, your mother's right. We know you can handle whatever comes to you. That's why we put so much pressure on you. From now on we'll try to relieve some of that pressure you feel. As for your brother, we know you try to protect him from getting in trouble. It's his own fault if he gets in trouble. You need to start acting like a kid, okay?" Tony said seriously. He knows Kyle does a lot of work and they don't appreciate him for it. Maybe the three of them could go out to dinner together. It'd give them a chance to say 'thank you' to their eldest for being such a great brother.

"That'd be great Dad" Kyle actually grins at this. The grin is short lived. He notices his mom looking at the knife and then at him. Now she's shaking her head like she still cannot believe he took the knife off of her.

Tony put a comforting arm around his son's shoulders. "You should try out for winter track this year" Tony joked. He already knows that Kyle does football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring. Johnny does hockey in the fall, basketball in the winter, and soccer in the spring.

"Why?" Kyle asked with a curious smile forming on his lips.

"We're two miles away from home. You're so grounded" Tony stated with a solemn smile.

"You mean you aren't gonna spank me?" Kyle couldn't help, but grin at this. Spankings are far worse than getting grounded. Once you get spanked, your butt hurts. Being grounded just means you can't do anything fun, but at least you have a comfortable ass to sit on.

"When you justify why you did something and if your dad and I agree with your reasoning behind it; you will not receive a spanking. Instead, you'll receive a punishment we see fit" Ziva explained that actually seems rather fair to Tony. They'll have to put this new system into play for Johnny too.

"Hey! Wait a minute. That's not fair. What if you don't agree?" Kyle asked feeling compelled to rebel the second he knows he won't get whipped.

"Then you'll most defidently receive a spanking, but for now you are grounded for the rest of the weekend" Ziva said trying to hide her smile at the look of disgust on Kyle's grim face.

"What? Why am I grounded?" he whined.

"You honestly do not know why you are grounded. First you stole my knife, which belonged to my mother and therefore I do not trust you with objects like that anymore. It is also very sharp and I do not want you hurting yourself with it" Kyle looks down sheepishly. He wants to say he wouldn't hurt himself, but then he remembers something.

"But Mattie's birthday party is this weekend" Kyle's face falls. He knows there's no way on Earth that he'll be allowed to go. Not even if he builds a transporting machine and transports himself to Mattie's.

"You'll have to miss it" Ziva answered. The look on his face makes Ziva want to say 'never mind' or 'who cares?' but that wouldn't be very good parenting if she let him get away with stealing.

"No way! Mattie's my best friend. I'm not just gonna miss his party" Kyle said his arms crossed over his chest. Ziva is suddenly glad DiNozzo Sr. isn't here to see Kyle throwing a tantrum like this.

"No Kyle" Ziva said staying stern with her son. Kyle never gets punished by his mother, but when he does. He whines and acts like a ten year old, until he gets his way.

"We already bought him something" Kyle whined. There are rare times when Kyle whines and when he does. It reminds both adults of Johnny.

"Give it to him when you become ungrounded" Tony offered. The fourteen year old has been looking forward to this party since Monday. He didn't behave perfectly, just so his parents could ground him.

"This isn't fair. Can't I just be grounded next weekend?" Tony almost laughed. Kyle actually thinks he can choose when he's grounded. This kid sure is something.

"No, your mother and I aren't going to negotiate with you" Tony said sternly. He pulls Kyle into a hug. "We're only doing this, because we love you, son"

"I love you guys too…are you sure you can't unground me?" Kyle dared to ask. Ziva shakes her head no. Tony shrugs his shoulders saying 'those are the breaks kiddo.'

Kyle follows his mother and father into the car. The warmth of the car reminds Kyle how cold it is outside. He shivers slightly, but looks over at his dad driving and mom cursing in Hebrew about how rude her husband is for not letting her drive. He smiles, thinking this is right. This is how it should be. Pulling into their drive way, Kyle hears his stomach growl loudly. Ziva looks back at him and offers him a gentle smile. Kyle returns it with a smile too. He's still mad about being grounded, but not mad enough to be sent to his room for the entire night for mouthing off when he just got off with such a light punishment.

Kyle watches with dismay as his little brother and Grampa start playing video games together. He feels totally left out. Ziva looks over from the kitchen and suddenly feels guilty about grounding him.

"Kyle, come in here" Ziva ordered. Kyle glad to be out of the living room, heads into the kitchen to see his mother is waiting for him.

"I didn't do anything" Kyle replied wondering if his parents found out about the drinking. It only happens every one in awhile. Ziva gives him a suspicious look.

"I never said you did" she pauses. "Wash your hands and help me with the chicken" Ziva doesn't make this a big deal. She sounds like this is an ordinary thing. Kyle helping in the kitchen is perfectly normal. Nothing out of the ordinary here. The fourteen year old looks down at his hands; like this is the first time he's ever noticed that he had fingers.

"I thought Johnny is the only one who's allowed to help you in the kitchen" Kyle replied feeling sick. Cooking is Johnny's thing. He doesn't wanna take that special thing away from his little bro.

"That is were you are wrong. Anyone can help me cook. I am more than pleased whenever you MEN get off your lazy bottoms and help me cook" Ziva stated, stirring the salad with one hand and drinking a glass of white wine with the other.

Ziva doesn't drink a lot like Kyle's birth mother did. Only on those rare occasions when she does drink it's only a glass or two of wine; nothing more. Tony drinks beer. He hates the way wine tastes. He'd much rather have a cold beer than a glass of wine any day. Sometimes though, Tony has wine when he and mom go someplace really fancy for special occasions.

"I don't know how to cook" Kyle admitted. Of course Kyle can sort of cook, only microwavable stuff. Things he knows Ziva would never approve of him eating in the first place.

"Well that is about to change, young man. I will not have a child who cannot cook" Ziva said half-joking and half-serious.

The young boy couldn't keep the smile off his face. "Yes ma'am" Kyle saluted, causing Ziva to roll her eyes at him. He's way to much like his father.

"I've told you a million times, not to call me ma'am" Ziva jokingly reprimanded. Kyle puts on his innocent puppy dog face. In return Ziva gives him a playful pat on the butt.

* * *

><p>Ally doesn't like being sent to the time-out chair or as her family calls it, the naughty chair. It's a blue chair that is facing the corner. The location of the 'naughty chair' is when you first walk in and near the staircase. Ally doesn't like how everyone can see she's in trouble when she hasta sit there. It's no fun at all. She wishes she could just be sent to the corner like Thalia, but that only happens when she goes to NCIS or something.<p>

Ally also doesn't like cooked broccoli it's all gross and mushy and tastes icky in her mouth. She doesn't like uncooked broccoli eida. Mommy should stop cooking these gross foods and let her have ice cream. Gibbs has to stay late with his Boss, who has a funny name that Ally can't remember. Ally always thought Gibbs was the Boss. He seems so bossy at home. He must be the Boss, everywhere. Whenever Mommy brings her to NCIS Gibbs is bossing around Tony, Ziva, and Tim. He smacked her butt a few times when she said a bad word to Tim. It was called ass.

Julie tapped on her daughter's shoulder. Ally looks up at her mommy. "Ally, you were put in time-out because I told you to eat your broccoli and instead you threw it at the wall. Mommy doesn't like sending you to the naughty chair when you disobey her" Julie replied making sure they both have eye contact.

"I'm sorry mommy. I won't do it again" Ally said repeating a phrase Julie has heard over a million times from Ally and a billion from Thalia only instead of the word mommy it was auntie.

"When you don't get your way, you do not through a tantrum. Am I clear?" Julie said trying her best to sound as stern as possible. Julie wishes Gibbs was here. He is much better at the firm parent act than she is, but then again Julie needs to learn how to deal with these things on her own.

"You're a dick" Ally said remembering the word Thalia told her. Only Thalia told her never to say it in front of her mommy or else mommy would smack her.

Ally gulps. She shouldn't have said dat. Now her mommy's gonna smack her. "What did you just say?" Julie asked a determined anger forming in her eyes. This is the first time Julie has ever been truly angry with her daughter. Julie doesn't wait for a reply.

"That is a very naughty word. I don't know where you learned it, but it was your own choice to repeat the bad word. You do not say that word to mommy or any adult. Do you hear me?" Julie stated, this time she doesn't have to try to sound firm. She sounds scary and really strict.

"I hear…but, Thalia told me the bad word" Ally explained yawning like this entire conversation is boring her. She sees anger flash through her mommy's green eyes. "But she tolded me not to say it cos it's a bad word" the six year old added. Julie nods not really satisfied with that. Thalia shouldn't have even told her the word, in the first place.

"That's right, honey it is a bad word, a very bad word. That's why, I want you to stay in the naughty chair until Gibbs gets home" Ally reluctantly and very slowly sits in the naughty chair. She already knows what's coming. Gibbs is going to spank her. This is all Thalia's fault. Ally kicked the wall. No fair! The naughty chair is stupid.

Julie goes up the stairs into her niece's bedroom. She waits by the door for a few minutes, before actually knocking. "Come in" Thalia said sounding friendly. Julie sighed, not really wanting to have to ground her niece. Then again, Thalia shouldn't have even told Ally about that word. Well, Thalia should only be grounded for the weekend.

"You want to hear a new word I learned from Ally" Julie said sounding eerily calm. The thirteen year old can already tell this is a trap. Her aunt sounds way to calm.

"Umm…okay" Thalia isn't so sure she likes where her aunt is going with this, but complies. She hasn't seen Auntie Julie this mad, since a guy flipped her off for taking his spot in the parking lot at Target.

"Dick. Do you know many six year olds who know the world dick?" Thalia shrugged her shoulders, helplessly. "Well I don't know any, besides Ally. Thalia Caruso, how could you tell her that word?" Julie asked her tone sounding unusually mild.

"It slipped" a look of annoyance forms on Julie's once calm face. "Gibbs came to school cos I got into a fight. You remember, right? Ally got in trouble too. She and I were sitting in the hall and I said Gibbs was a dick. I didn't mean it. It just slipped out. I mean stuff slips Auntie Julies" Thalia said as quickly as she could.

"Thalia Caruso, I don't want Ally learning this language at a young age. What if she were to say it during class? What would happen then?" Julie asked Thalia knows what would happen. Ally would get sent to the Principle's Office and then she'd get in trouble.

"She wouldn't cos I said for her not to cos if Gibbs heard her say it she would probably get her ass smacked" Thalia lied. She knows Ally too well to know that Ally can't keep her mouth shut, for anything.

"I might just smack yours, if you don't improve your own language" Julie said and honestly she means it. Thalia gulped. Her aunt would never spank her. Would she?

"Auntie Julie, I didn't know she'd call you that. I didn't think Ally was that stupid" a hard smack lands on the seat of Thalia's jeans. "Oww, Auntie that really hurt" Thalia said trying to rub the sting out of her behind.

"It was supposed to" Julie sighed. "You're grounded for the rest of the weekend. This will give you a chance to think about what words are appropriate in this house. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah I understand" Thalia follows her Aunt out of her bedroom and to the top of the staircase.

"Good, and if I hear of you teaching Ally new words, Gibbs won't be the one spanking you" Julie promised causing Thalia to blush and then glare at her aunt.

"Yeah right" Thalia said sarcastically as she stomps down the stairs. Her aunt only smacked her cos she wanted to get her point across. She'd never really spank anybody.

Julie Caruso shakes her head. She guesses it'll have to be the hard way with Thalia. Then, again it never is easy with Thalia. It probably never will be easy as Thalia heads into her teenage years. Julie has a Gibbs gut feeling that swearing is only the bad beginning to the up-coming challenges.

* * *

><p>Luke has been feeling sick and crabby. He's been feeling this way all week. That's why when Abby took him to the mall. He thought he'd finally feel better. Only he feels worse cos his mom bought him a new book called The Outsiders by S.E Hinton. It was a compromise instead of candy he'd get a book. Tim doesn't see how a twenty five dollar book is equivalent to a three dollar candy bar. Luke doesn't see how a book is better than a candy bar; so both of the McGee men are confused. Abby has been trying to get Luke to read more. Lately he's been more concerned with baseball and friends to be bothered with books and school.<p>

"Come on, Lukey. It's a really good book. You'll like it" Abby promised. She has read that book for a school project too and she found out she enjoyed it.

"I won't cos I don't have enough time" Luke grumbled causing Abby to stare at him looking very puzzled. This is the first they've heard of a book report. For all they know it could be due Monday.

"When is the book report due?" Abby asked, noticing a flash of anger in her husband's eyes. He wants Luke to start caring about school early, so he can get into a good college.

"Next Friday" Luke sighed, like it was the end of the world. He winced too, but only Tim saw it.

"Lukey, you have tons of time. If you want your dad will help you" Abby offered, like she was helping both of them out. Tim grayish green eyes are startled and confused.

"I will?" Tim asked from his seat on the couch. He's been going over his latest book and this is his only chance to make any corrections to what the editor made.

"Yes you will!" Abby stated indignantly. It's all been decided in her mind. Tim looks over at Luke and offers an encouraging smile. "Luke, you used to love to read. What happened?" his mom asked causing Luke to shrug.

"I don't feel good, I guess" Luke stated truthfully.

"Let me feel you're forehead" Abby feels it. "You're warm and not the pretend sweaty or rubbing hot water on your head warm. The sick warm" Abby explained more to her husband than to Luke.

"Lucas, does anything hurt?" Tim asked. Luke looks up at his concerned father who somehow managed to make it to his mother's side without him seeing.

"My throat…it's real hard to sleep" Luke mumbled feeling his cheeks turn a violent red color of embarrassment. At The Home kids never told the directors they were sick. If they did they'd get this disgusting medicine and have to stay home while the other kids did lots of fun stuff, like visiting the zoo or something.

"Why is it so hard to sleep?" Abby asked stroking her little boy's cheek. Luke really wants to cry. His mom is being so nice and he lied to them.

"My throat hurts too much to sleep and whenever I try I always wake up ten minutes later or something. I'm sorry" Luke admitted sadly.

Tim asked, "Why didn't you tell us sooner?" he sounds so disappointed. The poor kid shrugs his shoulders.

"I thought you'd be mad" Luke sounds so sad. Tim ruffles his son's hair; hoping the little guy will feel better soon. Abby leaves the living room and goes into the kitchen to retrieve some medicine.

"We would never get mad over you being sick. Sweetie, here take some Tylenol it'll make you feel a little better" Abby hands him the medicine causing Luke to groan overdramatically while Tim struggles to hide his smile. It is like a rule for every child to hate medicine. "I know you hate medicine, but come on sweetie" sulking all the while Luke swallows the medicine as quickly as he can.

A sour look forms on the ten year olds face. Drinking medicine is like drinking vinegar; really gross. "If you feel sick, you need to tell us son" Tim advised with a genuine smile. When he was ten and sick, his mother used to dote to his every whim. Tim's dad always thought when his son got sick it was some sort of weakness. Tim vowed that he'll never be anything like his father when he has kids.

"Dad" Luke said softly and very remorsefully.

"Yes son" Tim inquired.

"I feel sick" and with that being said, Luke barfed all over his father's shoes.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

Gibbs used to enjoy staying late at NCIS. He didn't really like drinking bourbon alone in his basement. Now that he has Julie, Thalia, and Ally in his life. Gibbs is in more of a hurry to come home. The thought of his girls being taken away from him is much more terrifying than he can imagine. The former Marine would kill for the girls in his life just so they wouldn't feel an ounce of pain. Gibbs considers Thalia his own daughter, but nevertheless their relationship is strained. Thalia likes him and despises him more than anyone in the entire world, even more than his ex-wives sometimes. Turning the knob, Gibbs opens the door to find the angelic Ally is kicking her legs back and forth in the naughty chair. He saunters into the kitchen to find Julie making diner.

"What did she do, babe?" Gibbs dared to ask. In return he receives a sharp glare that eventually softens. Julie puts down the ladle she was stirring the pasta with and runs a hand through her dark red hair.

"She called me a dick" Gibbs tries to suppress his smile. "I swear if you smile Gibbs, there's no way I'm going to give you a piece of the coffee cake I made" Julie reprimanded jokingly. Gibbs puts on his best innocent face and pouts.

"How did she learn that word?" Gibbs asked suddenly confused. There's no way Ally could ever have learned that word by herself. She's only six years old. What does she and her friends sit at the swings talking over the best swear words during recess? Whatever happened to hopscotch or tag?

"Thalia told her it" Julie admitted, she can't lie to him. Julie loves him way to much for that. Gibbs looks over at the staircase, suddenly determined. "I already punished her. She's grounded for the rest of the weekend"

"Doesn't she have a party this weekend?" Gibbs asked referring to Mattie's party. Julie nodded in agreement. Gibbs almost smiles at her. He guesses that Julie did think of a good punishment for the teen. To miss out on a party is equivalent to being taken off a case.

Gibbs doesn't need to ask about Ally. He already knows that Ally's in for a mini spanking, probably a few smacks to her upturned hinny; nothing serious. He turns and stalks down the hall. Julie already knows that her daughter is going to get a small spanking for saying naughty words, but sometimes she wishes Ally could keep her mouth shut.

"Hey there princess, mommy told me you haven't been behaving your best" Gibbs said softly. The six year olds face turns sour.

"Mommy's a tattle tale" Ally complained.

"Princess, you do not call mommy names" Gibbs stated firmly. The sulky child harrumphs. In return she receives an unhappy glare from Gibbs. "Let's go upstairs and talk." Ally grips onto the chair tightly.

"No way" Gibbs ignores her. He takes Ally by the hand and leads her upstairs. Ally tries to pry her hand out of his. Only Gibbs is way stronger. That isn't fair at all. He goes into mommy and his room. Ally drops to the ground. She honestly doesn't want a spanking; even if she knows it won't be that bad. Gibbs doesn't want to fight with Ally. All he wants to do is get this over with quick and easy.

"Come on princess" Gibbs answered. Ally shakes her head; defiant and unwilling to get this over with. Letting out a sigh of frustration Gibbs lifts Ally. She almost instantly starts kicking and screaming to be released from Gibbs grip. Sitting down on the side of the bed Gibbs stands Ally out in front of him.

"Ally-cat, you can't say bad words like that to mommy or any adult. You must show mommy respect. It hurts people's feelings when you say naughty words to them. You hear?" Gibbs said firmly. Ally doesn't even know what it means.

"I dunno what it means. What's it mean Gibbs?" Gibbs has to press his lips together to keep from smiling at her question. The look Ally is giving him reminds him of Julie when she's incredibly confused.

"Ally it's a very naughty word that only adults are allowed to use. One that I promise I'll tell you when you're older" Gibbs compromised. He decides that he'll tell her when she turns twenty five.

"I didn't…mean it. I really didn't" Ally whispered. She honestly didn't mean it. All she knows that it's a bad word and she didn't mean to call her mommy that.

"I know Ally, but you have to show adults respect" Gibbs said his caring tone bringing tears to Ally's green eyes. Gibbs has the affect on her. He points out how other peoples feel and it makes Ally feel guilty afterwards. The spanking helps too, but it hurts a whole lot.

Wanting to get this over with, Gibbs bends her over his lap. He brings his hand down sharply four times. They all sting straight through her jeans. Ally doesn't like getting spanked. It really hurts and is completely unfair. By the time Gibbs has finished Ally is bawling her eyes out. He rubs her back until the crying ceases. The former Marine stands the red-eyed child out in front of him.

"M' sorry…I-I didn't mean…it" Ally's lower lip wobbled uncontrollably. Gibbs wipes a few stray tears from the six year olds cheeks.

"I know Princess. Its okay, it's okay. You're forgiven, princess" Gibbs replied rubbing the young child's back soothingly.

"Is mommy still mad at me?" Ally asked. Gibbs can't speak for Julie, but he's almost certain that she already forgives her.

"Why don't we go downstairs and see" Gibbs said kindly. He offers the little girl his hand. This time Ally takes it without complaining. She doesn't put up a fight when Gibbs leads her downstairs too.

Julie hears the two come downstairs and into her kitchen. She pretends not to notice Ally's presence. Instead Julie keeps herself busy and doesn't dare look her baby girl's way. She fears if she does then she'll wrap her daughter in her arms and say 'it doesn't matter' only it does matter. Ally has to learn a very important lesson in respect. Julie didn't have a mom growing up. She never had a mom teaching her about make-up or giving her tips on boys. Of course her daddy loved her, but no matter how much he tried. He couldn't be both a mother and father to her.

"Mommy" Ally's voice brings her back to reality. Julie snaps her head up and looks at her poor little girl. It almost causes Julie to burst into tears.

"Mommy…I'm sorry" Ally said trembling slightly. Nobody enjoys it when you get punished, but it's the apologizing part in the end that makes you feel guiltiest; the part where you aren't sure if someone forgives you.

"I don't like you saying those bad words, Ally-cat" Ally looks down ashamed with herself. She shouldn't have called her mommy that. Even if she doesn't even know what it means. She still shouldn't say it. "Give me a hug, sweet pea" Julie opens her arms and bends down on one knee.

Ally jumps into her mommy's hands. "I won't ever say it…I wont" Ally promised more tears roll down her cheeks, like a waterfall. There is nothing in the world Gibbs loves more than his girls. He realizes that when he sees Julie look over at him with tears shining in her own eyes. Julie isn't upset about the spanking. She just loves her daughter so much, it hurts to hear. "I forgive you sweet pea. I forgive you" Julie repeated smoothing out her little girl's hair.

"I didn't mean it" Ally whispered once more. Julie lifts her precious little girl onto the counter and smiles warmly at her.

"I know you didn't. Come on. I know what's going to dry those tears of yours. Would you like to help me make a coffee cake?" Julie said wiping most if not all of Ally's tears from her stained red cheeks.

"Yeah! Auntie Abby says I'm the bestest baker in the world" Ally lied. This time neither Julie nor Gibbs really care if Ally lies. Small and pretend ones like these are the kind of which they don't mind.

"I don't doubt that. Do you Gibbs?" Julie asked in full agreement to what her daughter said. She's pretty sure that Abby has never said those words in her entire life.

"There isn't a better baker in the world. I love coffee cake" Gibbs announced grinning happily at this change in events.

"You love anything with coffee and you know it. There could be coffee flavored candy and you'd gulp it down in seconds" Julie said wagging a finger at him. Gibbs blinks innocently at her.

"The ideas you come up with are legendary" Gibbs said leaning in and giving Julie a kiss on the lips. This causes Ally put on a sour and completely disgusted face.

"Mommy, Gibbs that's gross" Gibbs hopes Ally will feel that way for a long time. "We needa make a coffee cake" Ally ordered with her hands on her hips. Gibbs smiles, Ally gets over a spanking quicker than anyone.

Upstairs Thalia is Instant Messaging Kyle. She still can't believe her Aunt actually grounded her for the weekend. That is so unlike her to punish her, like that. Mattie has a party tomorrow and his parties are well-known. This isn't fair at all. Technically it isn't her fault Ally repeats whatever she says.

**Cupcake67- **_I'm grounded. Totally sucks._

**DiNozzoDude14- **_Me 2. How'd u get grounded?_

**Cupcake67-**_ Ally heard me say dick & she said it to Auntie Julie. Wbu?_

**DiNozzoDude14- **_Stole my mom's knife and ran off 4 awhile._

**Cupcake67-**_ Y'd u steal in the first place?_

**DiNozzoDude14-**_ I wanted it. Ran off cos I was pissed._

**Cupcake67- **_What were yah pissed bout?_

**DiNozzoDude14-**_ Ain't gonna tell you._

**Cupcake67-**_ Never said you had to. Wat r we gonna do bout' the party?_

**DiNozzoDude14-**_ I don't know. We're lucky_

**Cupcake67-**_ Ur crazy. Mattie's parties r awesome. We can't miss it._

**DiNozzoDude14-**_ What can we do?_

**Cupcake67-**_ We can sneak out for a lil bit_

**DiNozzoDude14-**_ My butt'll be toast! So will urs!_

**Cupcake67-**_ Not if you get Johnny to cover for u._

**DiNozzoDude14-**_ Wbu?_

**Cupcake67-**_ I'll make somethin up bout' a school project. Tht's worth 20% of my grade. R u in?_

**DiNozzoDude14**_- I guess. What's the plan?_

**Cupcake67-**_ We can talk bout' the plan at NCIS 2morrow._

**DiNozzoDude14-**_ Awesome g2g have dinner. See yah later._

* * *

><p>Kyle doesn't really have dinner. He just doesn't want to talk to Thalia, anymore. It's weird because usually he always wants to talk to Thalia. Kyle doesn't mind being grounded for the weekend. At first he was pissed, but since Grampa is in town and only staying the night. Maybe they could talk or chill out or play poker.<p>

"Why are you leaving tomorrow?" Kyle asked looking at his hand of cards and faking a scowl.

"I have a business to run. I'm sorry I never got to know you" Senior said and he really means it. These boys seem worth getting to know.

"Wasn't your choice, dude" the teen replied scratching the back of his neck.

"You remind me so much of my son. You and your brother even look like him. Johnny more so, but your personality is similar" Senior praised causing the fourteen year old to genuinely smile at his Grampa.

"Here" Kyle hands his Grampa his and Johnny's school pictures. "You don't have to take em' if you don't wanna. I just thought…that you'd wanna see our pictures…so if umm someday you see me again. You don't forget what I look like" Kyle offered uncomfortably. He has never been good with expressing his emotions.

Senior coughed. "I…thank you Kyle. I really appreciate these. You two should consider yourselves lucky; you have the DiNozzo looks" Kyle shrugs his shoulders like he can't help it.

"No problem, dude. Hey J, what's takin you so long? We have a poker game to complete, squirt" Kyle called. Johnny has been upstairs for more than ten minutes. What's he doing starting a forest fire or something?

"I'm coming. I'm coming!" Johnny comes bounding down the stairs. "You have my school picture" Johnny accused with a crooked smile.

"Yes I do" Senior replied, hoping it doesn't bug the young child. Instead Johnny has a very happy grin appearing on his face.

"Don't I look better than Kyle? People always say I'm way cuter" Johnny smirked happy as ever; he has a two-pair.

"Only old BLIND people tell you that" Kyle muttered. Senior can sense a fight brewing between his grandsons.

"Gentlemen, there is one way to solve this matter" Senior intervened; both boys look over suddenly interested in this one way. The older man suddenly wishes he and his first wife Rebecca had another child. She did want to have more children; only he was too busy with his business to be bothered. Anthony would've been an amazing big brother. He probably would've been a lot like Kyle; caring, protective, and full of jokes.

Both children wait for their Grampa to speak. "We send your pictures into People Magazine for next years Sexiest Man Alive" Senior confirmed nodding at his ridiculous decision.

"Do you think that'd work?" Kyle asked seriously.

"Of course, I happen to know a columnist on the magazine. I'm actually meeting with her next week. I can make sure you two will be considered in 2012 magazine" Senior answered looking solemn and serious.

"Really? You'd do that for us Grampa?" Johnny asked his big green eyes widening with happiness.

"Of course, I would. Gentlemen, I do believe we have a poker game to finish. I raise you five sticks of Juicy Fruit Gum" Senior puts the gum into the pot.

Tony and Ziva are smiling. Who would have thought that Senior Anthony DiNozzo would like being a Grandfather? Sammie is playing with her Barbie dolls. Personally, Ziva wonders why little girls like those things. They have a fake figure that could cause girls to be insecure about their appearances and have an unusual smile on their plastic face.

"Time for dinner" Tony called. The only reason he wasn't playing poker is because he didn't want to spoil the fun. Kyle is the first in the kitchen and helps set the table. He wants to look good for his Grampa. If he sees him behaving then maybe he'll praise him or something.

"Samantha, put your dollies away. We are going to have dinner" Ziva replied with a soft smile. Sammie glares at the lady. Nobody ever calls her Samantha; only Sammie or Sam, unless she's in trouble.

Sammie doesn't have a response. Glaring stubbornly at Ziva she crosses her arms over her little chest. She doesn't move a muscle. Senior looks from both ladies. "I'll give you ten dollars if you do, Darling" Senior promised taking out a ten dollar bill. Johnny looks over at Kyle with amazement masked over his green eyes.

Sammie takes the money and leaves the room for a few minutes. Tony and Ziva exchange knowing glances. Senior pretends not to notice and sits beside Johnny. The table has a head which is where Tony and Ziva are sitting. There are two seats on either side of the table. Kyle is waiting for Sammie to sit beside him; he honestly doesn't care where he sits. They all wait for the six year old to return. When she does she has her hands positioned on her hips.

"I wanna sit with Grampa" Sammie stomps her feet and jumps up and down. Almost everyone can feel a tantrum coming on.

"Tough, I got here first" Johnny stated, not budging. He doesn't care a thing about little girls who don't get their way.

"NO! I WANT TO. GRAMPA MAKE HIM MOVE" Sammie screeched.

"Darling, he got there fair and square" Senior said quietly. He usually can handle conflict, but not with an unruly six year old.

"Come on, Sammie. I really want to sit with you" Kyle answered forcing a smile, a smile he only uses when he's trying to charm a girl.

Sammie doesn't buy it. She may be six, but she knows when someone is trying to coax her into doing something they want. "Come on, Sammie-pie go sit with Kyle. You can tell him all about your pretty dress" Senior coaxed looking at Kyle for help.

"What dress?" Kyle asked pretending like he hasn't a clue. Even though, he knows full well that Sammie is wearing that dress.

"Grampa bought me a dress cos we hafta comed here, tomorrow we's going to Disney Land" Sammie points to the dress she is wearing. Kyle tries to look impressed, but he couldn't care less. Dresses and fashion aren't part of his forte.

"I told you Sammie, we aren't going to Disney tomorrow" Senior said in a whispering and weak tone.

"NO! NO! NO! I want to go! I want to. You have to take me" Sammie ordered with her hands on her hips.

"Sammie, darling let's just eat dinner, alright darling?" Senior replied practically begging the six year old.

"NO" Ziva rolls her eyes, knowing if this child was theirs. Then she'd either get sent to time-out for acting like this or a spanking for acting so disrespectfully towards an adult.

Senior sighed and decides to give up. "Fine, if you don't want dinner. Then I suppose we need to talk" Sammie's baby blue eyes become wide. That's the first time that Grampa has ever sounded firm with her.

"Boys, go upstairs" Tony ordered. Kyle and Johnny glare at his father. Going to bed without supper this isn't fair.

"Junior, wait. I need to say goodbye" Senior's tone softens, slightly.

"I'm sorry we never got to know each other, but do believe I love you boys" Senior replied with a sad smile. Johnny jumps into Senior's arms causing the older man to fall onto his behind. Senior runs a careful hand through his youngest grandson's thick brown curls hair.

"I love you too, Grampa" Johnny said looking proud. Senior smiles and nods trying to hold back the tears he's suppressing in his green eyes. Johnny pulls himself off of his grandfather's lap and stands beside his father.

Everyone looks at Kyle. For once, he's being quiet. The teenager much like his father tries to hide his feelings behind jokes, but he's all out of jokes. Kyle gives Senior a friendly hug. Senior smoothes out Kyle's blonde long hair, "so Grampa you gonna get laid?"

"Yeow" Kyle rubs the back of his head; wincing in pain. His dad just head-slapped him that is a total Gibbs move. "Love yah Gramps" Kyle whispered softly. Feelings are better off hidden where the sun don't shine.

"I love you too, both of you" Senior promised. Kyle looks around thinking this is so totally Hallmark.

Their happy moment is short lived. Kyle's stomach growls, you can't blame a man for being hungry. "Dad, we hadn't had anything to eat" Kyle reminded his father in a whiny tone.

"Go into the living room and bring your candy upstairs. Eat that" Tony answered. Ziva's eyes widen and she jabs Tony with her ribs. He gives her a look. She gives him one as well.

"What if we're still hungry after?" Kyle whined jokingly. They have enough candy to last them for weeks. Tony aims a sharp edged glare his way. The fourteen year old puts on his father's charismatic smile. Senior eyes almost pop out of his head. His grandsons' have his father's smile.

"Shutting up now, Dad" Tony has to press his lips together to keep from smiling. Kyle is so much like him.

"Do as you're told, son. Go upstairs. You too John" Tony answered gruffly. Kyle has an innocent smirk playing on his cherry red lips.

He and Johnny head into the living room to collect their loot. Kyle grumbles as he goes upstairs about how not feeding kids is illegal. Thankfully nobody put any food on their plates; nothing can possibly get cold.

"Darling, come sit by me" Senior pats the chair beside hers.

Sammie does as she's told. She moves closer to her Grampa. He puts a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Darling, we need to talk"

"We aren't going to Disney, are we?" Sammie asked in a small voice.

"No, we aren't. Darling, I do love you. I'm going to do this because I think you deserve parents who can do a whole lot more than I can" Senior replied hoarsely. This child has taken his heart. That is exactly why he is doing this.

"But, you're my Grampa" Sammie whispered tears rushing down her cheeks. He can't really mean he's going to leave her with these people. She hardly knows them.

"I know darling, but you deserve a childhood. I'm not going to be selfish and steal your childhood" Sammie doesn't really understand what Grampa is saying. "You're going to stay here for awhile" Senior said stroking the child's cheek.

"We are, why?" Sammie asked playing dumb. She really doesn't want her new Grampa to do this.

"Not we. Just you" as soon as the words leave his lips, Senior can see the hurt and complete distrust forming in her eyes.

"But Grampa…you're my Grampa. You can't leave me" Sammie moaned; her big blue eyes begging into her.

"I'm not leaving you. You're going to stay here with my son's family. They'll take better care of you than I could" Senior said trying to give Sammie a hug.

"No! No, I hate you" Sammie pushes him away from her.

"I know you don't mean that, Darling. I love you so much. I just want you to know that I love you. Sammie-pie, please be a good girl for me" Senior whispered trying to pull the child close to give her a hug.

"Don't leave me! Grampa" Sammie pleaded, embracing him in a tight hug. This hug would put one of Abby's to shame.

"I'll email and call you as much as I can. I love you. You'll always be my first grandbaby girl. I have to go, now" Senior gets up and starts walking down the corridor. Sammie gets up and chases him down the hallway.

"I didn't mean it. I didn't. Don't go. I'll be good" Senior struggles to control himself with the poor girl holding onto his leg with all her might. Sammie changes her tactics. "If you leave…I'll be bad. I will!" Senior kisses the top of her head and strokes her cheek.

"I love you and I'm sorry Sammie-pie" Senior said kissing the top of her head once more and rubbing her back. Sammie watches as her Grampa leaves her side and starts walking towards their car.

The driver has been watching every Sports game he could think of and bought himself a pizza. Of course without any beer or else Mr. DiNozzo would fire him on the spot. The driver looks at Mr. DiNozzo and notices tears on the walls of his eyes. He doesn't say a word as Senior gets into the car and orders him to drive. Sammie starts bawling her eyes out and runs into the guest bedroom and slams the door. Everyone's stupid!

* * *

><p>Abby helps a tearful Luke into bed. After tucking him in and giving him a peck on the cheek. The tears managed to fall down the ten year olds cheeks. "Is dad mad at me?" Luke asked weakly.<p>

"Oh no, sweetie, dad could never be mad at you. You take a nap. I'll bring up some crackers and soup, later. Try to get some sleep" Abby whispered ruffling his short blonde military style hair.

"Could you…you stay with me?" Luke asked causing Abby to smile thoughtfully down at her son. This has to be the best son in the entire world.

"Of course sweetie" Abby promised stroking his cheek. Luke starts to close his eyes and drifts off to sleep.

"It was funny…wasn't it? When I barfed on dad's shoes" Luke murmured with a pleasant smile forming on his face.

Abby chuckled. "Oh yeah that was hilarious, sweetie" she looks over at her husband standing at the doorway who's shaking his head with a sulky smirk. He has to admit as well it was sort of funny.

"What did the doctor say?" Abby asked softly.

"Luke's symptons are similar to strep throat. Could you bring Lucas in tomorrow? I have to talk to Vance about something" Tim answered quietly. He's never had to deal with a sick child before.

Abby said trying to hold back her giggles, "Of course. Timmy, you have to admit. It was kind of funny when Lukey barfed on your shoes?" her husband raises his eyebrows at her.

"Yeah it was hilarious" Tim scoffed, but he doesn't mind. His mother got him those shoes because she thinks Abby has bad taste.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning, everyone seemed to be in better spirits. Ziva decided that after breakfast she will take Sammie to get her hair cut and go to Shaws for a few groceries. No child should have hair the reaches down to her bottom. The others are going to NCIS, to hang out for awhile. Ziva and Tony figure Sammie isn't ready to meet her additional family. She doesn't even consider Tony, Ziva, Kyle, or Johnny apart of her family. Sammie regards them like they're annoying people who won't leave her alone, which is odd because that is exactly how she feels.

Sammie doesn't care about the haircut. She sorta wants one. Grampa promised they'd get one, but Grampa isn't good with promises. Over the course of ten hours Sammie has learned that. Ziva sets down a plate of oatmeal for the youngster whose eyes widen. No! No! No! Her Grampa lets her have whatever she wants for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

"I want ice-cream" Sammie complained. Johnny and Kyle exchange annoyed glances. Her unruly behavior is getting on their nerves. It's a damn good thing their parents haven't registered Sammie into Nobles, yet. They're setting up a meeting on Monday.

"Ice-cream isn't a breakfast meal. Oatmeal is healthy" Ziva informed her, trying to control her withering temper.

"It looks like puke" Sammie stated hotly. Ziva squeezes her eyes shut tightly and tries to calm down.

"Eat it we do not have enough time to make anything else" Ziva concluded causing Sammie to stick her tongue out at her.

The six year old glare at the oatmeal, the oatmeal looks disgusting. Kyle has created a revolutionary way to eat the food he dislikes. Kyle quickly gobbles up the oatmeal without even tasting it. That's the point, not to taste the disgusting bird poop they make him eat because apparently healthy eating should be very big on his list. He'd rather lick a toilet seat than have oatmeal…EVERYDAY, but mom wants them to eat healthy. Ever since the soda drinking incident with Johnny drinking four Cokes, mom's been on their case about Healthy foods.

Johnny isn't quite as smart. He hides the food he despises in his napkin. Only mom adds more oatmeal than before to his bowl, which doesn't really help him at all. Since he starts out with more than he had to begin with, it's strange because Johnny doesn't seem to mind at all. He just eats it with a pout in his green eyes; sometimes Kyle thinks his brother really is stupid.

"Samantha, eat you're oatmeal" Sammie drops her spoon into the muck and starts eating; slowly. Ziva smiles and lets out a breath of relief. Johnny grins and starts placing more and more of his into the napkin.

"Look what he's doin" Sammie tattled pointing at Johnny who kicks her from under the table. Sammie yelps, like that light kick actually hurt her.

"Jonathan DiNozzo, stop putting your oatmeal in your napkin. You do that again and I will refill your bowl" Ziva ordered, she's tired of Johnny putting oatmeal into his napkin every morning. Now that Sammie is here her stress level is going up and up.

"But, she doesn't get to eat it" Johnny mumbled. He does stop, but that doesn't mean his pride is hurt.

"J, come on, don't be a jerk" Kyle whispered nudging his brother to behave. At least there's one good child. Ziva smiles gratefully at her eldest son. Kyle nods weakly, feeling only guiltier about what he plans on doing tonight.

Ziva looks over at Sammie just in time to see her spit more into the bowl. She starts pretending to gag. Too be honest, Ziva wishes that Tony could handle the morning routine, but since he gets the warm shower water first. This is a little consolation prize; not dealing with three grumpy kids in the morning.

"It tastes like shit" Sammie said waiting for a reaction to come out of everybody. Johnny and Kyle crack a smile. Ziva's brown eyes become sharp like one of her knives.

At first, the former Mossad Officer considers swatting her bottom, but she quickly remembers how Senior took off. She also remembers how Sammie was on the carpet crying her eyes out, the previous. The poor little girl cried herself to sleep; Tony had to carry her into bed. When Sammie awoke the next morning she was disoriented and grumpy as hell.

"We do not swear in this house, Sammie" Ziva stated. Johnny rubs his ears and blinks, wondering if he heard mom right. She would've smacked his rear if he said that. Kyle can't help feeling the same way. Mom isn't being fair.

"I want pancakes" Sammie grumped. Kyle thought, 'Wow, she's worse than Ally and he thought that never could be possible.' Neither did Ziva.

"We do not have enough time to make pancakes" Ziva takes her original bowl of oatmeal and replaces it with fresh oatmeal. "Sammie, I'll make them tomorrow, I promise. Is that okay?" she promised. Johnny rolls his eyes, clearly angered by this special attention Sammie is receiving.

"No" Sammie decided, shaking her head. That isn't good enough. Tomorrow is a million years away.

"I am not making anything else. If you do not eat breakfast, you will be very hungry until lunch and we have a big day behind ourselves" Ziva stated, wondering if her hair will turn gray by the end of the day.

"Ahead of ourselves, my lovely" Tony replied leaning in and giving her a soft kiss on the lips. The kids look at them with pure disgust on their face.

"You Americans and your dumb idiots" Ziva mumbled.

"Idioms" Tony corrected smirking, like a ten year old.

"No I meant what I said. You would think American _boys_ would be smarter, but as you three have proven. That is wrong" Ziva said strutting out of the kitchen. All the DiNozzo men shrug their shoulders, like they couldn't care less.

* * *

><p>Luke has been sitting in bed all morning. Abby just phoned Gibbs saying she won't be able to come in today. Instead, there's a Probie coming in for the day and taking over her duties much to the chagrin of Tim. Sometimes in between breaks Tim goes down to see her. Abby locks all of her doors and turns off the security cameras and the two of them play a few games together.<p>

"Sorry mom" Luke mumbled sorrowfully. Abby strokes his cheek and offers him a soft smile.

"Bout' what, sweetie?" Abby asked soothingly. Luke shrugs his shoulders and feels tears on the walls of his eyes. When you're sick you feel sorry a lot and it makes you feel even worse about feeling sorry.

"You missin' work" Luke stated little tears trickle down his cheeks.

"As much as I love work, I love you way more and care about your health. Come on Lukey, you have a doctor's appointment, little man" Abby replied wiping away with those tears. Her green eyes bright, her son has to be the sweetest little boy in the entire world.

"Do I really gotta change?" Luke asked quietly. He'd much rather stay in his pajamas all day and sleep away this sickness. If only, he could actually fall asleep in the first place. Then all of their problems would vanish.

"No, it doesn't matter what you wear" Abby said causing a smile to form onto Luke's light red lips. "Just brush your hair and teeth and you'll be fine. I'll see you downstairs in ten"

"Okay. Can I bring my pillow?" Abby looks at him; suddenly confused. "I wanna sleep for awhile in the car" Luke explained, Abby kisses the top of his head and nods, before exiting his bedroom.

Luke asked, "Mom, can we get a dog?" Abby smirked at him. He looks at her with happy large ocean blue-green eyes.

"We'll see" Abby explained sweetly. She already knows that Tim would never agree to that after the whole dog incident a few years back. He has decided that dogs in general are bad news.

"Cool. I wanna get a big dog! And name im' Shack. Wouldn't that be awesome? I hate it when people name tiny dogs' big things. It's stupid. Don't you think so, mom? I do, cause little dogs should be named Midge or something small like Scope. I think we oughta get a big, BIG dog! Don't you mommy?" Luke rambled, sounding very much like Abby. The Goth stares strangely at Luke and wonders, if this is how she talks.

"Yeah, Lukey-pie if you don't start brushing those teeth. I'll brush them for you, little mister" Abby teased.

"That'd save me a lot of energy" Luke joked with a care-free smile. Abby tosses a pillow at him. Luke ducks and heads for the can as Gibbs would call it.

* * *

><p>Thalia is all ready for NCIS. She has her school-bag packed with books and her homework. Being grounded really limits a teen from her items; like their cell-phone and I-pod. Auntie Julie isn't coming. She has to have lunch with her Boss. Julie wouldn't have come anyway, she doesn't really have anything to do at NCIS. Auntie Julie is the type of person who always needs something to do; it doesn't matter what it is, Julie Caruso just needs a project.<p>

"Ally-cat, come on. We have to go" Gibbs almost sounds like he is pleading. Only any form of begging is beneath him, well besides when he has a disagreement with Julie. He admits defeat quicker, even if he is right; Gibbs views that if his girl is happy. He's happy too, most of the time. Julie is his girl after all. That may sound old-fashioned, but that's the way Gibbs sees their relationship and there's nothing that could change that.

"Not ready" Ally mumbled, she looks around for something special to wear. Whenever the first grader goes out with anybody she feels the need to look picture perfect.

"You need to pick something, Al" Gibbs said pleadingly. Usually Julie helps Ally get ready, but since she has a meeting that is reasonably far away. Gibbs said he'd do it, but he didn't think it'd be such an annoying task. He swears there are more willing terrorists than these kids.

"I want mommy" Ally harrumphed. Gibbs lets out a breath of annoyance. As much as he wants to, he can't just call Julie and ask her to come home to help deal with the cranky six year old.

"Mommy, left early this morning. You know that, princess" Gibbs reminded her, Ally remembers. Mommy came into her room and gave her a kiss goodbye. Ally honestly didn't think mommy would leave though. She thought her mommy didn't do anything, but stay home and do nothing.

"How come?" Ally asked, more like whined in Gibbs opinion.

"She has a lunch meeting that's far away" Gibbs said kindly causing the six year old to stare at him angrily.

"Why couldn't I go with her?" Ally asked, but she already knows the answer. Her mommy wouldn't want her coming because she would get bored way too easily.

"You'd get bored, princess" Gibbs said smoothing out her bright red hair. Ally pushes his hands away and glares at him. "Mommy doesn't want you to be bored all day."

"I want mommy" Ally shouted, stamping her foot.

"Ally, you really need to chose something" Gibbs said quickly shuffling through her closet, trying to pick something that looks comfortable and nice.

"NO! I want mommy!" Ally screamed, Gibbs can already tell that she's about to throw one of the biggest tantrums in the world. He tries to think of a good way to stop her.

"Ally, you have two choices; either you pick something or I will" he warned causing the little girl to stop shouting. Gibbs has the worst taste in the enitre world. He never wears anything pretty, cept' when he goes out with mommy. But dat doesn't happen a lot cause Thalia doesn't like to babysit.

"Is she ready yet? It's been almost twenty minutes. How hard can it be to get a first grader ready for work?" Thalia questioned, her smart-ass tone coming into play.

"Thalia" Gibbs warned. His patience is running and if the two of them don't drop the attitude. Then there's a defident chance their bottoms will sting.

"What? I'm just saying is all" Thalia shrugged her shoulders, looking as innocent as ever. Gibbs wonders if he'll lose his hair by the end of the day.

"Thalia, go wait in the car" Gibbs ordered firmly. Ally looks from her cousin to Gibbs; knowing this won't end well. Thalia should learn to shut up. Sometimes Thalia can be really stupid.

"Why should I?" Thalia asked folding her arms over her chest.

"Because I said so, that's why" sometime's that's the only answer an adult needs to give a child. Thalia glares at him causing Gibbs to do a doube-take, nobody has ever glared at him like that. Well besides his ex-wives.

"Ooh, I'm so scared" Thalia groaned her stubborn blue eyes staring into an older pair of ice blue eyes. Gibbs folds his arms over his muscular chest, Thalia copies his motions.

"Thalia, my patience is almost out. I think it'd be in you're best interess to wait in the car" Gibbs warned. He's had enough of her sour and bratty attitude.

"You need to learn to get a damn sense of humor" Thalia said sarcastically.

"Thalia, you gotta show me respect" Gibbs said through clenched teeth.

"Why should I? Is it cos your dating my aunt? Cos I don't care" Thalia stated angrily. She really doesn't want to be grounded and wants to go to the party without sneaking out.

Gibbs lightly smacks Thalia's jean covered ass."Enough, I've had enough of this. You need to show me some respect, not because I'm dating your adult, but because I am your elder. If we have to talk about you swearing. Then you're butt will regret it. Do you hear me?" Gibbs asked landing another smack to the seat of her jeans.

"I hear...you" Thalia mumbled as she turns and starts to walk out Ally's room.

Gibbs stops her. "Hey if there's something bothering you, can always talk to me about it. I may be your aunt's boyfriend, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you or Ally. Do you understand?" Gibbs promised. Thalia nods and tries to push past her guilt about the sneaking out.

"Yeah" Thalia answered calmly and coolly. Her blue eyes are full of guilt. Gibbs is being way too nice to her. This doesn't seem very fair for him.

"Good, go wait in the car, Thallie" Gibbs resplied gently. Thalia nods looking both angry and guilty. She reluctantly does as she's told, which is odd bcause Thalia never listens.

Ally is too stunned to speak. Gibbs hardly ever smacks Thalia's bum like that, only when he really is mad and has had enougg. Ally decides to wear a sparkly purple top with a giraffe on it and jeans. She's also wearing pink flats. Gibbs can't keep the smile off his lips. Ally snags her hairbrush and hands it to Gibbs.

"You gotta brush it just like mommy, okay?" Ally holds the brush in her hand. She doesn't look very willing to give it to Gibbs, who tries very hard not to smile.

"Okay" Gibbs promised as Ally squints at him; thinking thoroughly. The six year old thinks for another moment and a little reluctantly hands the brush over to Gibbs.

"Good, cos I wanna look pretty. How long will I be your princess?" Ally asked. Gibbs puts down the brush and turns her so they can have eye-level.

"Forever and ever, Princess" Gibbs promised, these three girls are the only ones who can make him be as soft as he is now. Ally looks down sheepishly.

"What if you leave?" Ally asked. Her birth-father left before she was born. Gibbs has only been around for two months and Ally can't help, but wonder when they'll meet.

"I'll never leave you, Thalia, or mommy. That, Ally-cat is a promise" the former Marine promised.

"So I'm stuck with you?" Ally asked raising her eyebrows at him.

Gibbs answered thoughtfully, "That seems to be the case."

"I hope it's a really long case, Gibbs" Ally whispered quietly. Gibbs smiles warmly at the six year old; she has to be the sweetest kid on Earth.

"Me too, Princess" Gibbs said brushing out snarls of red morning hair. A large grin forms onto Ally's face.

* * *

><p>For once the DiNozzo men are the first to arrive at NCIS. Kyle sits down at his mother's desk. He knows what being grounded means with his parents as agents; all you do is sit there and work on your homework. When you're done and Uncle Tim has checked it. You have to organize files and work all day. This is totally gonna suck. "Johnny, come with me. Kyle, I expect you to be working when I get back. You understand?"<p>

"Whatever, dude" Kyle said sounding so much like an annoying teenager. 'Great, just great' Tony thought knowing all too well that with Kyle in a mood like this. Then it won't be a good day for the fourteen year old.

"Where are we goin?" Johnny asked as his father presses an elevator button.

"You're going to the daycare. I have to work a case and you'll be wicked bored" Tony commented. He watches as his son looks down sadly. Tony's a bit sad himself, he was hoping to spend the day with his boys, but a case came up. In addition doesn't want Ziva to have to put up with three kids while shopping and getting Sammie's hair cut.

"What about Kyle?" Johnny complained his anger coming into play. How come Kyle always gets to do all the fun stuff just because he's older? Johnny never gets to have any fun. He has an earlier bed-time and when Kyle babysits; he actually hasta listen to the guy.

"Your brother is grounded. He'll be working all day" Tony explained briefly.

"That sounds like fun" Johnny mumbled.

"It won't be, Sport" Tony said trying to cheer his son up.

Johnny nods sullenly. It really sucks being the younger brother to a perfect older brother. Kyle does great in school, he's popular, and he's amazing at sports. It isn't fair. Johnny does okay in school, he's a trouble-maker, and he does alright in sports. All the teacher love Kyle; some don't even know him, but they've heard great things from him and expect the same out of Johnny. That stinks worse cos what if he can't wear Kyle's oversized shoes?

"Do I really hafta go to daycare? That's for babies" Johnny whined. The way he sees it, Kyle will always out-shine him. Kyle's perfect and he's just...Johnny.

"It won't be that type of daycare, trust me. You'll have fun" Tony encouraged, his green eyes bright with happiness.

"Will Luke be there too?"

"Kiddo, Luke's sick" Johnny's face falls. "But, don't worry. I'm sure you'll still have lots of fun. I think Ally will be there too. You can come back up after lunch, alright, Bud?" Tony nudges his son hoping he isn't upset about this. He knows how much Johnny likes hanging out with him, but the cases have become more frequent lately.

"Why does Kyle get to stay?" Johnny whined.

"Kyle's not going to have any fun, John. He's going to be working the entire day. You'll have so much more fun than him, trust me Sport" Tony promised kindly. Johnny looks down trying to hide his hurting, behind a mask of jokes.

Johnny said sadly. "I wanna work too"

"Johnny, trust me. You'll have fun" Tony promised once again. The two of them are so much alike. Johnny desperatly wants to hang out with his father. Tony was the same way. Only that ended when Johnny was around Kyle's age. Tony hopes that Johnny will always want to hang out with him.

"But, I don't know anybody there" Johnny complained, feeling glum. Tony feels bad for the kid, but he can't miss out on this case; with both Ziva and Abby out today. Everyone has to come in.

"You'll make new friends, you're great with people. You get that from me" Tony praised causing Johnny to smile brightly at his father's praise, but that doesn't still mean he's sad about this arrangement.

"I guess" Johnny agreed. Tony's lucky Johnny is such a good, agreeing child. If he weren't then they'd have so many problems; Johnny is actually really supportive of everyone in the family. Tony feels guitly because whenever its his time to shine, something always comes up.

"That's my boy. Be good" Tony said with a supportive and caring smile.

"Can't make any promises" Johnny answered shrugging his shoulders. Tony ruffles his boy's brown curls and leave to go back upstairs. He doesn't want to leave a bored Kyle all alone for too long.


	14. Chapter 14

Kyle shifted in his mother's chair. He suddenly wishes John was here too. He'd make a funny face and make him laugh. Then dad would crack a few jokes. Once he even skipped out on work to see Apollo 18 with them. It was loads of fun and excitement. He doesn't do that when they're in trouble or grounded. Tony can't be the fun dad; he has to be the firm dad with the grounded son that plans on sneaking out tonight.

Tony rounds the corner into the bullpen. "Why couldn't J, stay up here too?" Kyle complained wistfully.

"Have you had fun today?" Kyle nods with a happy grin. "You're not supposed to be having fun; being grounded isn't supposed to be fun, hey look outside it's…a little bit cloudy" Tony said sounding like he's begging for his own son to be unhappy.

"You're the one who got us burritos this morning" Kyle said shrugging his shoulders helplessly. Tony groans and suddenly wishes that he didn't do that. His stomach feels tense and unsure, almost like he's going to throw up from food poisoning.

"Yeah, but I do that all the time. That's a normal everyday thing. Mom torches you with oatmeal and I get you guys' burritos" Tony stated rolling his green eyes.

Kyle watches as Tim enters the bullpen. "Yo McGee, do you buy yourself a burrito everyday?" Kyle asked causing Tim to cringe. Oh great, Tony's evil spawn is going to start calling him McGee too.

"No, what morons would buy themselves burritos everyday?" he shouldn't have asked. "Tony, you do know that you'll get heart complications eating those all the time. I'm surprised you don't already" Tim said crankily. Kyle smirks at his father.

"See, buying burritos isn't normal" Kyle pointed out knowingly to his father. Tony rolls his eyes. At least he buys them burriots. Ziva would kill him if she ever found out. She believes healthy kids are happy kids. When that couldn't be more untrue.

Tony taunted. "Who said I wanted normal kids? Now start looking unhappy or I'll let Mom make vegetarian meat loaf tonight." Kyle's eyes widen and he knows his father isn't lying. Mom's health foods are cruel and unusual punishment. He just bets that's what she used to do with the other killers of the world; bake deathly foods that could kill you.

"Eww barf" Kyle groaned trying to hide his own disgust. He's always been the kid who loves meat. Johnny is the same way. Sammie...well Sammie she isn't so sure about cos he hardly knows her, but she'll come around to loving meats too.

"You got that right. Don't even get me started on her tofu desserts. I nearly ate my napkin" Tony shuddered in remembrence of that horrible night. It was on a date; the dinner was delicious, but the dessert. Let's just say to this day, Tony hates pudding.

There's a silence. Kyle swallows hard. He needs to know this just in case it could happen. Kyle DiNozzo doesn't like surprises. "Dad?" he dared to ask.

"Yeah" his father answered noncholantly.

"You don't think mom would ever make tofu right?" Kyle asked in a weak whisper.

"I wouldn't put it past her. She think you and John need to start eating healthier" Tony informed him. He sort of agrees with Ziva, he doesn't want his sons to be made fun of because of their weight. It seems like that could never happen to his boys' they're so active all the time that it'd be strange if they sat still.

"But we play sports!" Kyle whined, he's getting mighty sick of mom's health kick.

"Talk to mom about it. Kiddo, if it were up to me. We'd all be living off a pizza and breadsticks. Start looking unhappy!" Tony ordered with a joking grin. It's hard for him to be firm with his boys. They're so much like him, it hurts his soul to spank them.

"YES SIR!" Kyle saluted him.

"Don't call me sir" Tony chided.

Kyle corrected smirking slightly, "Yes ma'am"

"Don't call me ma'am."

"You got it captain" Kyle said trying to hide a fit of giggles.

Gibbs strolls into the bull pen. "There's no doubt he's not your son, DiNozzo" he stated gruffly. The silver haired man casts a glance at each of the boys. Sometimes he wonders how they can be fathers, when they still act like fourteen year olds.

"Thanks Boss" Tony said looking especially uncomfortable. His green eyes are pinned against the red carpet and his cheeks are flushed. Kyle smiled. Gibbs is so much like the stern Papa between his parents.

"Get to work! All three of you" Gibbs reprimanded with an eye roll to match.

"Hey! I'm not apart of you're team, Gibbs. You can't just bark orders at me like I'm some underdog" Tony has to hide his smile. Yeah, Kyle's defidently his kid. Nobody has enough guts to say that to Gibbs without joking. Gibbs turns and puts on a fake mock glare.

"Get used to it"

Kyle smiled. "Gibbs, where's Thalia?" his voice sounds high-pitched letting the world know that he's going through puberty. Kyle's smile fades and his face is bright red. Tony smiles at him. He remembers when he was fourteen and what a difficult time it was.

"Conference Room" Gibbs answered gruffly. He just hopes that Kyle won't sneak a visit to the Conference Room. He hates the way he looks at her; all googly eyed and stupid.

"Why isn't she out here?" Kyle complained.

"Don't want you two grabbing ass the entire day" Gibbs replied, know Kyle knows wherer his dad gets all of his tricks. "You're supposed to be bored and unhappy."

"I can't help it, if I'm not."

"Pretend to."

"Gibbs, that'd be lying. I'm done with that" Kyle answered with a smart-ass look appearing in his blue eyes.

"Lying or being a smart ass" Gibbs said, making it sound more like a statement than a question. Tim grins and shakes his head. Kyle can be such a smart ass, sometimes.

"The lying part, I'm a DiNozzo. I have to be a smart ass" Kyle said sighing like his entire personality isn't his fault.

Gibbs stated, "Point taken"

"Where's Ally?" Kyle asked yawning.

"Day-care."

The fourteen year old glances accusingly at his father. "DAD! That's like punishing John instead of me. An afternoon with Ally is like an afternoon in Hell! I'll bet J, is dying right now and his last words are gonna be 'why dad…why'" Kyle said clutching his throat overdramatically while Gibbs tries to hide his smile.

"Kyle, Ally's a very nice little girl" Tony lied. Ally's a litttle trouble-maker, but she's adorable. Sort of like Sammie, only Tony can tell that Samantha is a demon and Ally is trouble.

Gibbs smacks the back of Tony's head. "You never were good at lying, not even when you were a Probie" Kyle's eyes widen. He's never seen his dad get hit for something stupid.

* * *

><p>Sammie has a tantrum while getting her hair cut. She's very lucky the barber doesn't slice open her head. Sammie secretly doesn't mind her new hair length; it's shorter and easier to play with. Her blonde mane reaches just above her shoulders. Ziva is sorta nice too, but Sammie doesn't want to like her. After getting her uniform, Ziva takes the now grumpy six year old grocery shopping Sammie keeps on wandering off. She's wicked bored and wants to look at the toys. Ziva just doesn't understand what it's like to be a kid.<p>

"Do not wander off, Sammie. It isn't safe to wander off and if you need to go someplace tell me" Ziva chided thoughtfully.

Sammie rolls her baby blue eyes at her, but doesn't say anything. Ziva decides on letting this matter slide. Unfortunately Sammie doesn't want to listen to her. Why should she? This lady can't tell her what to do. Ziva pulls Sammie into the Ladies Room with her. "I don't wanna be in here" Sammie complained.

"It will not take very long" Ziva promised with a soft smile. Sammie scowls at her. Ziva shuts the purple bathroom door and locks it.

Sammie has a brilliant idea. She will play hide and seek without Ziva knowing. She knows for sure this will get Ziva mad, but she doesn't care. It isn't like Ziva can do anything to her, is she's bad. Plus if she's really naughty then maybe they'll send her back to live with Grampa.

The six year old wanders off towards the meat section of Stop and Shop. After five minutes, Sammie sees Ziva come out of the bathroom and look around. Anger and worry flash through the older woman's brown eyes. Ziva abandons their cart and starts searching in obvious child places of the store. When she realizes that Sammie would most likely go to the least obvious place she checks out the Vegetables to find nothing. Going through Stop & Stop worry seeps into Ziva's bones. This child is an orphan and has nobody in the world. She spots the child squatting behind the Meat area of store. She has her back to her and is giggling like crazy. Ziva can also tell it's her because she's the only little girl in the store who's wearing a sparkly pink backpack.

Ziva sneaks up from behind her and taps her on the shoulder. "You are in so much trouble, Samantha" Ziva takes Sammie and pulls her over to their cart. She takes a seat on the red chairs and stands the child out in front of her.

"Sammie, what did I tell you?" Ziva asked seriously.

"I don't know" Sammie lied badly. Her face is red and she's struggling to meet Ziva's eyes.

"Yes you do. Now tell me, young lady" Ziva ordered not caring if anyone is watching. Sammie looks around and realizes that a few people are watching them. She smirks, thinking she can put on a bit of a show for them.

"Go away poop face" Sammie stated trying to push her away. Ziva takes her hands and gives them a gentle squeeze, letting Sammie know that she cannot push people

"Samantha, I do not tolerate disrespect."

"You're stupid. I hate you. Go away" Sammie ordered sticking out her tounge. Ziva resists the urge to smack her bottom and tell her to cut it out.

Ziva is suddenly pleased that neither Johnny nor Kyle came with her. She's almost certain they would've caused trouble due to the fact that most of her attention is on Sammie, for now. "Stop this behavior right now or you will be sent to the naughty chair when we get home" Ziva warned, remembering the first time she sent Kyle and Johnny to the corner in Abby's lab. As a rule the older ones are sent to the corner while Ally is sent to the naughty chair, well Sammie now too.

Sammie scowled at her. "You aren't my mommy. You can't tell me what to do."

"I may not be your mommy, but I am in charge. Whether you like it or not you will do as you're told. I told you to stay put and you didn't. When we get home, you will be in the naughty chair for six minutes" Ziva declared knowing this punishment is a little harsh, even on Sammie's first day, but every child must learn there are limits.

"I don't like you" Sammie said her stubborn blue eyes staring up at her. Ziva doesn't say anything instead she pulls the child onward. There still are many things they need to collect. Milk for instance.

To Ziva's amazement the shopping trip only gets worse when Sammie spots a Barbie doll she doesn't have. The Barbie is Beach Barbie wearing a sparkly pink bikini. She tugs on Ziva's shirt. "I want it" she points to the doll.

"No" Ziva said with the shake of her head. She starts to walk away, fully expecting Sammie to follow. Sammie doesn't move a muscle.

"But I want it" Sammie whined, feeling her anger start to rise.

"You have been misbehaving all day. I am not going to award you for bad behavior. The answer is no. Now, we still have many items left on the list. Come we will go" Ziva said trying to sound firm, but it's hard to be firm when a child isn't hers.

"NO! NO! NO!" Sammie starts pushing everything off the shelves and screaming. Other shoppers are giving Ziva dirty looks, like this tantrum is her fault.

"Sammie, stop this insolence. If you're good then maybe we can get some chocolate" Ziva said hoping the alternative will do the trick.

"NO! NO! NO! I WANT IT! I WANT IT!" Sammie screamed dropping to the ground: kicking and screaming even louder.

Ziva lifts the incorrigible child up and tries to push the cart while carrying the unruly little girl. The former Mossad agent has a high tolerance, but when Sammie hits her in the stomach. Ziva decides she has had enough of this. She knows Sammie is only six, but her fetus is still growing and she doesn't want the young girl to injure it. Ziva's never been pregnant before and she's nervous. Anything in the world could happen and this baby is relying on her to keep it safe. She puts Sammie onto the ground and squats down so they're at eye level.

"Stop, this tantrum right now" Ziva ordered sternly. Sammie starts screaming even louder. People start to look over with disapproving looks. An elderly woman shakes her head. "If you do not stop, I will smack your bottom. Do you understand me?" Sammie stops screaming and stares at her with widened eyes.

"No way! You'd never do that to me" Sammie said, glowering at Ziva who raises her eyebrows.

"I will if you continue acting disrespectfully" Ziva threatened. Sammie glares stubbornly at her.

"No! Go away" Sammie said kicking Ziva in the shin and running in the other direction. Ziva being older, taller, and faster manages to grab Sammie in no time at all. Sammie is already crying her eyes out. Once again Ziva lifts the child into the air. She holds her over her shoulder.

"Go away! You aren't my mommy. You aren't my mommy!" Sammie shouted at the top of her lungs in a feeble attempt of getting away.

People look over at Ziva with concerned questions streaming through their eyes. Ziva quickly flashes her NCIS badge at them. The watchers examine the badge and nod. They've all been there with their kids. They can relate. So the watchers continue shopping, like this is all normal. Ziva bends down to the child's level. "You will be in the naughty chair for fifteen minutes when we get home. If you throw another tantrum, I will add five minutes onto the time" Ziva whispered. Sammie stares up at her innocently and nods.

Sammie isn't through, though. She wants Ziva not to want her staying with their family. Ziva goes to checking. The clerk starts pricing all of the items. Sammie tugs on Ziva's hand.

"Ziva, I left my lucky rock over there. Can I go get it?" Sammie asked. Ziva glances down at her wondering why on Earth a child would consider a rock to be lucky? Then again, Americans are very strange people and have very odd customs.

"Yes, be back in ten minutes" she nodded.

"I can't tell time" Sammie lied. Her Grandpop taught her to. He wanted to teach her all the advantages of becoming a very smart child.

"Be back as soon as you can" Ziva answered looking intently at the clerk; an old woman who has been giving her the stink eye. The clerk looks down and tries to ignore Ziva's daggars of eyes.

"I will" Sammie promised looking as innocent as the Devil. Ziva nods and watches her go off to the Meat section.

Sammie waits until she isn't visible anymore. She runs to the doll section and stuffs the dolly into her pink backpack. She skips back towards Ziva and grins up at her. "I got it"

"That is very good" Ziva praised, causing Sammie to almost feel bad about what she did.

The two depart from the store, right as they reach the door. Loud buzzers go off. Sammie stares up at Ziva; startled. Ziva looks around trying to hide her shame. A teenage store clerk walks over to the pair with a bored expression. "Excuse me ma'am, did you take something that didn't belong to you?" the boy asked numbly like he's been doing this for a long time.

"No, we did not. Here is our receipt and what we bought" Ziva said showing the boy their items. He glances at the receipt and into the bag, silently checking if anything was stolen.

"What about your purse?" he questioned yawning.

"No!" Ziva stated her eyes burning two very dangerous looking bullet holes in the kid's skull. The teenager gets the message that she didn't steal anything.

"What about her bag?" he points to Sammie who is staring at the checker patterned floor. Her face is flushed with worry.

"Sammie, open your bag" she shakes her head. "Samantha, open your bag" she repeated firmly. Again with the shaking of her head.

"I can't. Zippers stuck" the six year old lied.

"I do not appreciate being lied to."

"I'm not. It's stuck…see!" Sammie whined stamping her feet.

"Come here. I will fix it" Ziva stated sternly. Sammie stares up at her trying to use her baby blues to make it look like she's too cute to do anything like this.

"No" Sammie mumbled, her lower lip jutting out as though she is going to cry. The clerk starts to feel bad for the poor little kid. Ziva doesn't she knows that Sammie is only faking it.

"Why?" Ziva asked pretending that she didn't already know the answer. Sammie's eyes become wide with anger and frustration. This lady just doesn't give up, does she?

"Umm..wait, I fixed it. See!" Sammie reluctantly zips open her bag; revealing a Beach Barbie doll. "She made me take it!" Sammie said trying to shift the blame all onto Ziva.

The teenager chuckled at the child's reasoning. "Yeah okay kid. Umm, if she gives back the doll we can let it slide. Stealing isn't good. Try not to do it again" Ziva takes the doll out of Sammie's bag and hands it to the older boy.

The clerk leaves, Ziva stares down at Sammie. She looks up at her and plasters a smile onto her cherubic face. Ziva takes her wrist and pulls the child outside. "I didn't know it was bad. I didn't" Sammie tried pleadingly.

"You knew" Ziva answered shaking her head looking very disappointed in her. Ziva is disappointed. She cannot believe a young child at her age stole something. The six year old looks down.

"Did not!" Sammie garbled, offering Ziva a glare that could rival one of Gibbs.

"Stealing is wrong. It's against the law" Ziva sighed. "You will not steal again. Is that clear?" the former Mossad agent asked feeling tense. She leads Sammie to the car.

"GO AWAY!" Sammie shouted. Ziva takes a deep breath. She can already feel her temper start to simmer more and more.

"You cannot throw a tantrum every time something doesn't go the way you wanted it to. Samantha, you must learn that you cannot get everything you want. Do you understand me?" Ziva asked trying to remain calm.

"NO!" the petulant child shouted stamping her feet.

"I suppose after you're spanking tonight you will" Ziva said opening the car door. Sammie slowly gets into the car with worry and dread in her eyes. She's too busy feeling sorry for herself to notice that maybe she did something wrong. Ziva shuts the car door and runs a hand through her brown curls. She never planned on spanking Sammie at all. Ziva touches her belly and guesses that things don't always go as planned.

* * *

><p>Gibbs leaves to talk with the Director. He has a smirk on his face. Tim smiles at Gibbs comment. He watches as his 'older brother' Tony's face reddens and grins. "Wipe that stupid grin off you're face McGoober" Tony ordered shakily. Nobody has ever commented on his lying before.<p>

"Really? That was all you could come up with, McGoober. Dad, you usually do much better than that" Kyle laughed causing Tim to laugh too.

"He's right, you know" Tim said joining in at Tony's expense.

"Just work on you're homework" Tony mumbled feeling like a sad eight year old. Kyle shrugs his shoulders. He doesn't have a lot of homework, he might as well enjoy himself now and do it on Sunday.

Kyle asked pretending to make it sound like a joke, "Do you think Gibbs would mind if I took Thalia on a date next weekend?" Everyone stops laughing and stares at him.

"I don't know, ask him yourself" Tim offered. He just hopes if he ever has a little girl and she starts dating, the boy will have the courage to ask him first too.

"That's so 1970's; asking a dad if he can date their daughter and Gibbs isn't even her dad" Kyle said nervously and it's true. He doesn't need to ask permission, when he already knows that Julie will be fine with it, it's Gibbs everyone's worried about.

"So true, when I tell him that. He gives me a look and you make one little comment and he smacks you for no reason at all! Stupid Gibbs" Thalia mumbled appearing out of no where. She looks seriously pissed off. Kyle guesses that she got a few smacks this morning or else she wouldn't be that mad at him.

"Thalia, what are you doing here?" Tim asked sternly. Kyle smirks, one minute he's Dr. Cool and the next he's Mister Stern.

"I finished my homework and got bored" Thalia answered rolling her sapphire blue eyes at him. She shouldn't have to answer to these people, even if they are her supposed elders.

"Kiddo, if I know my Boss and I do! He's going to make you go back" Tony said sounding more like a small child rather than a father of two teens.

"No he won't" Thalia laughed. Even Gibbs isn't that mean. He can get cranky, but he's never been down-right mean for no apparent reason before.

"You can hide under my desk if he comes" Tim offered smiling his nerdy smile. Thalia grins happily and pokes her tongue out at Tony who rolls his green eyes. He's still a little peeved about the McGoober thing.

"I'm not afraid of Gibbs...oh yes" Thalia answered smiling at Kyle.

"Yes to what?" Kyle asked returning the smile.

"I'll go on a date with you" Thalia answered like it is obvious.

"I haven't asked you, yet" Kyle's cheeks are turning red.

"So?" Thalia sits down at Gibbs desk.

"I'm supposed to ask you and then you're supposed to say yes."

"And if I suddenly change my mind?" Thalia asked with her eyebrows raised and a knowing smile appearing on her beautiful face. Kyle's cheeks turn even redder.

"I'll…ask you until you say yes. My dad can drive us to the movies…right dad?" Kyle asked hopefully. Tony turns and looks at his nervous son; poor guy.

"Yeah, sure…wait no can do. Johnny has a basketball game that night, your mom and I are going" Tony explained suddenly feeling bad.

"Can't you just skip it? Just this once. J, would understand" Kyle whined, whining is something Kyle hardly ever does. This must be important to him.

"No, a DiNozzo man never breaks a promise" Tony scolded lightly.

"But dad" the fourteen year old complained, once more.

"No kiddo. Ask you're uncle."

"GIBBS?" Kyle asked gulping.

"Yeah" Tony answered turning back to his 'work' grinning like a fox.

"He'd kill me! Then he'd say NO!" Kyle almost shouted. Tony rubs his chin. He doesn't want to break a promise with Johnny, but Kyle's acting like Gibbs is a terrorist.

"Hmm, I'm not sure if that's a bad thing. It would give me one less nagging son" Tony joked with a smirk forming on his Italian face.

"I don't nag!" Kyle muttered as he runs a hand through his blonde mane.

"I'll ask Julie if she can take us" Thalia intervened just as Gibbs enters the bullpen. He looks at Thalia and sighs, now he has to smack her butt and send her back to the Conference Room. He was really hoping for the girls to behave. Gibbs doesn't want for there to be any friction today, just smooth sailing.

"Thalia Caruso, what are you doing here?" Gibbs asked looking pained.

"I went to work with you" Gibbs gives her a hard look. "Only joking, I finished my work and got bored. So I went to find you to see if I could stay here...can I please?" Thalia answered sweetly, a little too sweetly for his liking.

"Oh, well okay then…play solitaire on the computer or draw" Gibbs ordered waving her away with the flick of his hand. Thalia smirks at the three shocked boys.

"See, he didn't make me go back" Thalia said looking more at Tony than anyone else.

"When the job is done-walk away" Gibbs stated.

"Rule 11" Thalia chimed. Gibbs looks around with a knowing smirk. He doesn't want Thalia dating boys, but Kyle isn't so bad. He knows how to treat a girl right, it's better than not knowing the boy she's dating at all.

"What's this I hear about you two dating?" Gibbs asked glaring directly at Kyle. The young boy looks down at his fingers and chews on his lower lip.

"Nothing sir…I mean Gibbs" Kyle stuttered nervously. It's not that he's scared of Gibbs. He just doesn't want Gibbs to...well nevermind he's scared of Gibbs. Who the hell isn't? Oh yeah. Thalia, Ally, and Julie. Gibbs girls.

"You sure? I could've sworn I heard something about you two going to a movie, which I would never allow because you're two young to even be dating" Gibbs answered turning towards Thalia for a proper explanation.

"GIBBS! I can date and kiss whoever I want" Thalia screeched, several people from different bullpens' look over with raised eyebrows. Gibbs glares at them, until they all look away.

"You won't be kissing anyone till you're 18" Gibbs declared feeling his temper get the best of him. That happens sometimes; parents get over-heated and they say something they don't mean.

"I can kiss anyone I want. You said" Thalia complained feeling only slightly betrayed and lied too.

"Sometimes I'm wrong and make mistakes. You can't kiss till you're eighteen and that's final" Gibbs shouted slamming his fist against his desk. Thalia doesn't flinch, she squints at him and gets up from the chair of his desk.

Thalia smirks as she goes round to Ziva's desk. Kyle is already standing at attention with a very nervous look on his face. Much to his surprise, she grabs him and gives him a kiss on the lips. Kyle's blue eyes widen. Sure, he's kissed his share of girls but it's always been in that cheesy romantic way; moving a strand of her hair out of her eyes and kissing her gently. He's never kissed a girl like this before with Thalia holding onto his shirt and kissing him like she could never lose her breath. Once they pull apart, the teens look at the jaw dropped Gibbs and the smiling proudly Tony. Tim turns back to his computer and pretends to look interested in that.

"You're a good kisser" Thalia praised sounding surprised. Kyle's cheeks burn a red color and he shrugs.

"Thanks, you're strong for a girl" Kyle admitted. Thalia lets go of his now crinkly shirt and feels her cheeks burn the same color as Kyle's. Gibbs stalks out of the bullpen in search of a coffee.

"Atta boy" Tony said slapping Kyle on his back. Thalia goes after Gibbs knowing all to well that they need to talk. Kyle pauses for about a second, and quickly runs to catch up with Thalia and Gibbs. He figures that Thal might need back-up.


End file.
